Where does GEVI stand with the design of its turbines?
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vol. 8
08 February 2023
GEVI’S FIRST TURBINE
By Edoardo Simonelli, Eleonora Cacchio
Last Jan. 20, at the DEMO DAY of ZERO, the Italian Cleantech Accelerator by CDP, the GEVI team presented the small-scale model of its intelligent wind turbine, and it was a remarkable success.
Entirely designed and built by the three founders, GEVI’s first 600 W turbine combines lightweight materials, such as ecoPLA and fibreglass in its blades, along with aluminum in its internal frame, to create an optimal fast development solution.
It is equipped with the team-designed custom blade pitch control and load management systems, as well as the first Artificial Intelligence software (version 0.1) that ensures the turbine adaptability to any wind condition. Specifically, based on the wind parameters recorded continuously by the anemometer, the AI provides real-time guidance to the blade pitch control system to angle the blade pitch, to maximise the torque throughout the all rotation and thus extract as much energy as possible while resolving turbulences issues.
GEVI’s smallest model measures 1.7 m in height and 1.8 m in diameter and can produce 1 MWh of clean energy per year with an average wind speed of 5.5 m/s.
As a result, this turbine is suitable for domestic and off-grid applications, as it can meet 1/3 of a household’s average annual energy demand. It can also be easily integrated with a photovoltaic system to increase the share of clean energy produced and intended for self-consumption.
The installed turbine is undergoing comprehensive field testing to collect data and assess its performance prior to the POC installation at the University of Pisa‘s Department of Economics and Management. The data gathered from these tests will provide valuable insights into the turbine’s behavior and performances, and help to optimise its design and functionality.
The next step for GEVI is to manufacture the turbine using fully recycled and recyclable materials, to make its turbines completely sustainable.