While ever bigger wind turbines of conventional design is being pursued by most, Norway’s Wind Catching Systems (WCS) has taken a different approach.
It claims its mega-array of smaller rotors arranged in a grid can achieve up to five times the energy of a single-rotor monster turbine. Furthermore, WCS says the Windcatcher design allows for simpler installation, greater ease of access for maintenance, simpler scalability, and a longer service life of 50 years, as opposed to 30 years for large single-turbine units. And since the system doesn't require massive generators and enormous blades, it promises to be much less logistically challenging to manufacture and move the parts around.
At over 1,000 ft (324 m) high and about the same width, these massive grids of wind turbines would appear to stretch the bounds of feasibility. And, therefore, many have doubted its claimed credentials. However, in good news for WCS, the design has now received a major stamp of approval from DNV (Det Norske Veritas), an international accredited registrar and classification society. Many standards devised by DNV have served as the basis for international standards, so they’re a heavy hitter in the field.
DNV has awarded an Approval of Principle to WCS for its design for a 40-MW system that WCS says will be the first of four expected units for a demonstrator project off the coast of Norway.