A Unique VAWT Design= Great Investment ($1300 per kW Cost, 2 Year ROI)

Community Rating

6.71429
Rating: 
6.71429

We don't claim a breakthrough technology, rather utalize a very old & reliable one. What we offer is a unique design, never applied to a VAWT before, one which solves multiple issues associated with vertica; axis turbines and with potential to deliver electric energy for $1300 per kW, at only 1/5 of the current cost and ROI investment period for wind turbines of similar size & nature, $6,000 kW. 

Imagine: 

-An Ultra Compact & Light Turbine (<1m in height and <20kg in weight)

Contestant organization: 
Whirlwind Turbines
Describe your venture: 

We don't claim a breakthrough technology, rather utalize a very old & reliable one. What we offer is a unique design, never applied to a VAWT before, one which solves multiple issues associated with vertica; axis turbines and with potential to deliver electric energy for $1300 per kW, at only 1/5 of the current cost and ROI investment period for wind turbines of similar size & nature, $6,000 kW. 

Imagine: 

-An Ultra Compact & Light Turbine (<1m in height and <20kg in weight)

-Relatively cheap to manufacture & maintain due to nature of composite material used in its manufacturing and its design features.

-One that's completly Modular and use no metal nuts, fasteners or bolts

-Can be shipped in parts or carried by one person from one place to another on foot.

-A Wind Turbine that can assembled within half an hour (incl. electronic components) by the end user with no specialized tools 

-Furthermore a VAWT which contains multiple Turbines and Generators within a very compact space and utilize custom magnetic bearings to minimize friction and noise.

-Whirlwind turbines generate electricity without any friction using the most reliable and tested technology; by interaction of parmanent magnets and copper coil wire.

Our Generators are contained within the top and bottom rings that connects the blades and benefit from the widest possible span. The Whirlwind Turbine posses 4 seperate turbines each with 4 generators. Each turbine is able to operate without any negative impact to the performance of the other.

(Outer Cage/Frame contains 4 Static Hallow Rings each with copper coil wire inside.

First set of Turbines (top & bottom) are connected with 2 Dynamic Hallow Rings each with parmanent magnets inside.) 

Each of the Four Turbines are set in-between magnetic bearings to enable the turbines operate at very low wind speeds.

Whirlwind turbines have a provisional US patent and therefore protected against theft of intellectual property

In this forum we choose to disclose and share our concept and technology with other members in good faith.

Our first prototype is still in final stages of development, however images of actual parts and fully assembled product (frame) are available in our website: http://www.wix.com/ctopbas/whirlwindenergy (Products Page, Bottom Left Corner). Performance tests also have to be undertaken.

At this point in time based on the design features we estimate an annual output of 5,000 watt (5kW) and a retail sales price of $6,500.

Our Vision is to decrease average kilowatt cost for small wind turbines from $6000 per kW to $1300 per kW and therefore shorten the ROI period for our customers 1/5 of its current lenght for other similar products.

Target Market

Munuciplaities; Primarily City of Toronto and Vancouver, both of these cities represent some of the highest wind speed locations in Canada and North America.

Whirlwind Turbines are designed to be used in urban settings; in city centers as a part of the existing infrastracture  and requires very little in terms of extra infrastructure investment. They are intended to set on top of street light or  electric poles with direct connection to the grid.

At the current prices for Wind Energy in Province of Ontario $0.8 per watt, City of Toronto will be able to recoup its $6500 per unit investment ($1300 per kW cost vs. $800 per kW revenue) within less than 2 years. 

From that point on, city of Toronto will have the opportunity to offer the additional capacity, free or at a discount to its low income citizens or small businesses making it a more attractive destination to live and start a business.

Our mass manufacturing cost per unit is estimated to be in $2500-$3500 range and hence based on the $6500 sales price, we expect a gross margin of +50% and plan to finance growth by using free (in house) cash flow from operations. By the 3rd year we forecast to reach a gross revenue range of $1.75 M to $3.2M and net income ratio of 21%, which we estimate to maintain thereafter. By this time we expect to have sold min 800 units, 500 units sold in 3rd year.

We are ready to share our business plan and technical drawings for any interesed party who is willing to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emissions reduction potential: 

By their design VAWT constitute a much better fit for the urban & residential use, unfortunetly due to their low performance, this is also a segment of the market that remained relatively undeveloped unlike the commercial horizantol turbine market which have enjoyed double digit growth for the last decade. Whirlwind Turbines hope to change this and make VAWT affordable for the residential hosehold market  

The team: 

Cumhur Murat Topbas, President:

More than 11 years experience in a variety of industries; Banking, B2B Financial Services, Customer Goods, Education and Real Estate in a wide range of roles; Internal Auditor, Finance Manager, Project Analyst, Manager of Business Advisory and Business Development. 3 Years experience as entrepreneur 

http://www.linkedin.com/profile/edit?trk=hb_tab_pro_top

Seeking collaborators: 
Yes
Potential collaborators should contact : 
Murat Topbas: (647) 765 5545, [email protected]
How will you ensure your project is self supporting within five years?: 

Our mass manufacturing cost per unit is estimated to be in $2500-$3500 range and hence based on the $6500 sales price, we expect a gross margin of +50%.

By the 3rd year we forecast to reach a gross revenue range of $1.75 M to $3.2M and net income ratio of 21%, which we estimate to maintain thereafter. By this time we expect to have sold min 800 units, 500 units sold in 3rd year.

How did you hear about ClimateSpark?: 
Center for Social Innovation

Comments

This is more of a sell than an environmental sharing project

How could this proposal be improved?: 

Community usage

I would say its both a sell and environmental sharing project . Primary target market is municipalities; Cities of Toronto & Vancouver. It's designed to use existing urban infrastructure (Light Poles) and conribute to the wellbeing of the city residents by keeping electricity prices affordoble and at the same time reduce the carbon foot print for the city

I have two major concerns with this project. First, plastic tends to wear very quickly, especially outdoors. How have you ensured this product is durable enough to survive harsh weather conditions? And second, turbines are tall to harness wind more effectively. How will your 1 metre turbines work in a city surrounded by tall buildings or even in a field with tall grass?

I understand your concern. As its prototype is made of 75% PCV and 25% Aluminium. In other words specific parts that are required to be durable & stable such as the bi-pods that carry the weight of turbines are constructed out of Alumium. Our choise of material was driven by a number of reasons; low of cost of manufacturing, ease of replacing defective parts and its lightweight.

The turbine is designed to utilize the existing city infrastructure such as light and electric poles  In other words 1M high turbines will be sitting on top of 8m to 10m high poles. Furthermore we are using custom magnetic bearing that enables us to have turbines that touch the rest of the assembly only at the vertical axis and suffer from min friction

 

JLanger's picture

Renewable energy, deployable in an urban context, is urgently needed.  Getting the cost down, so that can be accessible to 'the masses' is key. 

How could this proposal be improved?: 

Have you done any functional, feasibility studies regarding the wind regime and generation potential in cities?  A  presentation by TRCA expert in this field made it clear that the turbulence created by buildings and trees in built-up environments dramatically interferes with the wind regime needed for cost-effective operation.  Maybe the size and cost mitigate this.  

How would this be marketted, to who?

 

With competing options for municipalities (solar, large scale wind, etc) what is the price point of this technology in comparison?

Comment Feeds, No of Comment : 6
Subscribe to Comment Feeds

The ClimateSpark Social Venture Challenge is a project of:

Partners

Our sponsors:

Our Sponsors