LAFAYETTE, Colo., June 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Hybrid Turbines, Inc. of Lafayette, Colorado has announced their SmartGen™ hybrid gas-wind turbine system. The patent-pending design burns biogas or natural gas to spin wind turbine generators 24/7 if the wind isn't blowing. "Large wind turbines, even in good wind resource areas, typically generate rated power only 30% of the time because the wind blows intermittently or at a low wind velocity," states Hybrid Turbines' President Nick Verini. "This SmartGen™ system, which can be retrofitted to existing wind turbines, enables them to generate power at their rated capacity 100% of the time. It can also be incorporated into new wind turbine designs. The SmartGen™ design can scale up to very large 4 MW onshore and offshore wind turbines."
The 35 gigawatts (GW) of installed wind power capacity in America could be producing grid power 24/7. The SmartGen™ system utilizes a ground-based turbo-compressor to compress air and this compressed air is used to drive a turbo air motor directly connected to the wind turbine generator. Compressed air is used because it is safe, non-flammable and efficient when used in combination with the turbo air motor. The turbo air motor is one-tenth the size of the electric generator it is driving. Using the existing wind turbine generator saves considerable money since the generator itself represents a significant cost of the wind turbine, and is already in place and connected to the grid.
The increased output of 25 GW (70% of 35 GW) represents the generation capacity of twenty-five 1,000 MW nuclear power plants. "If biogas is used then the SmartGen™ system is 100% renewable energy-based (wind and/or biogas). Even if natural gas is used the electricity produced by SmartGen™ is twice as environmentally clean as burning coal. This will be increasingly important as we move to electric vehicles with batteries charged from a smart grid," adds Verini.
For more information, contact Sales at telephone (720) 339-4972, fax (303) 665-2346, email [email protected] or visit our web site at http://www.hybridturbines.com.
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SOURCE Hybrid Turbines, Inc.
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