Alternative wind power: A next generation wind power technology?

Present day wind turbines (large blade Props on Pole or POPs) have continued to evolve to ever larger sizes requiring massive blades, gearboxes or large, complex customized generators. This continuous increase in size has subsequently increased the costs and complexity of manufacturing, transporting, constructing and maintaining these systems. In this article, Alfred L. Weisbrich, ENECO Texas LLC, USA discusses an alternative wind power technology design, the Wind Amplified Rotor Platform (WARP^TM) which uses many identical smaller vertically integrated modules as opposed to one large generator. The modular design can be easily and relatively inexpensively volume produced and implemented both in traditional electric utility scale wind farms as well as in marine based offshore wind farms sites.