Gaia-Wind's Advanced Small Wind Turbine FortyForty

Project Information

GW-FortyForty

Grant agreement ID: 729363

DOI

10.3030/729363

Project closed

EC signature date 8 June 2016

Start date 1 July 2016

End date 31 December 2016

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

GAIA-WIND LIMITED
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - GW-FortyForty (Gaia-Wind's Advanced Small Wind Turbine FortyForty)

Reporting period: 2016-07-01 to 2016-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Accessing renewable energy is essential for the protection of the environment and if this can be done at the point of use it also offers significant advantage in reduced transmission losses and cost of delivery. Up until now, small wind power, at a scale suitable for generation at the point of use, has been too expensive to offer electricity at a cost competitive with the grid supply. This project will deliver a series of improvement to an existing proven product that will bring it to a levelized cost of energy lower than the retail price for all European countries.

The primary aim of this feasibility study, which forms part of the GW-FortyForty project – funded by the European Commission under Phase 1 of the SME Instrument Scheme – has been to prove both technical and commercial feasibility of this further development of GW-FortyForty (Gaia-Wind’s novel Small Wind Turbine (SWT)) prior to the roll out of the technology at EU and global level.

The project will take GW-FortyForty from its current status at TRL6 – a prototype demonstrated in a relevant environment – to TRL8, a complete and qualified commercial prototype. This will enable it to take advantage of the major business opportunity that exists for an advanced SWT that overcomes current technical and economic challenges facing the market. This in turn will make a significant contribution to reducing carbon emissions. The additional forecast sales of the new turbine, together with the higher output, means that by 2023 the annual CO2 emissions saved by this project will be approximately 90,000t CO2.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The study has investigated and verified a number of technical, practical and economic aspects of the development to provide commercial validation and ensure operational requirements are met before market launch. The findings, conclusions and impacts of the Phase II development project are presented in this comprehensive feasibility report detailing the next steps towards development and commercialization, which will form the basis of the SME I Phase II Business Plan.

In summary during the 6 month project, Gaia-Wind has completed the following tasks:
T1.1 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION AND VALIDATION - Defining optimization variables and techniques for the technology (optimization of components) and manufacturing process; and simulation of impacts and costs of optimization.
T1.2 SUPPLY CHAIN INVESTIGATION AND OPERATIONAL CAPACITY – Investigation of materials and manufacturing supply chain inside and outside the EU, logistics analysis and value added vendor relationships.
T1.3 MARKET ANALYSIS AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ASSESSMENT – Commercialization strategy; investigation of target markets for commercial roll-out, identification of re-sellers and partners, market barrier analysis, analysis of legal, market conditions and regulatory framework, user scenarios and ROI for customer.
T1.4 GAIA-WIND BUSINESS ASSESSMENT – FTO, IP and ROI analysis, Phase 2 budget development.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Through additional technology and process optimization, the overall innovation project objective is to further develop and commercialize FortyForty to deliver all the unique features demanded by the market and ultimately achieve the following sub-objectives (Key Performance Indicators): [1] reduce the fully installed cost of the turbine [2] increase energy production [3] reduce the cost of energy to below grid parity [4] deliver an attractive and financable ROI to the customer (without subsidy).

This will impact the business and its suppliers by enabling rapid sales growth as the greatly improved ROI will open up new markets and improve the sales returns.

The impact on the wider society will be a significant reduction in carbon emissions by displacing grid electricity with renewable electricity at the point of use. The SWT can also be used off-grid, creating a power supply in remote locations where no grid is available.

Comparison of costs of energy

Gaia-Wind 4040 Design