MAR 04

From Magenn power Inc comes an interesting new design for a wind turbine. This could be a goodyear for renewable energy. Called the 'M.A.R.S' - a fantastic acronym for the Magenn Power Air Rotor System - which promises lower costs, better performance, and enhanced environmental benefit. The turbine is a lighter than air blimp, which rotates around a horizontal axis. A unique design orients the blimp into the wind. One of the interesting facets of this technology, is that as it is anchored to the ground by a 1000 foot cable, the MARS could be anywhere up to 707 ft from its base.

The MARS blimp will come in a variety of sizes. First, in small applications that will produce around four kilowatts of power at roughly 20 cents per kilowatt. These, obviously, are useful only in off-grid situations. However, Magenn plans to create much larger MARS turbines that will produce up to 2000 kw per turbine (twice that of the world's largest wind turbines.) These would likely be cost effective in wind farms and, if implemented correctly, could even be combined with today's current farms.

This device is higher than your average turbine, but lower than other tethered turbines we've seen. Thus, you can neither see nor hear the MARS turbine, and it is able to harness unobstructed higher-altitude wind currents. But, unlike some kite- turbines that we've seen, the MARS turbine won't interfere with commercial air traffic any more than cell tower would.

We see a lot of potential for these blimp turbines in the future of wind power, and we'll be following Magenn closely in the coming months.

Comments (15)

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written by Jinks, March 06, 2007

Be careful about the data you're using. Make sure you have a reference for it.

You claimed that these will put out 2000 kw, which you also claim is twice the capacity of the world's largetst turbines. But GE makes turbines with a capacity of up to 3.6 Megawatts (3600 KW).

SO either you got incorrect data from somewhere or maybe you meant only in the residential turbine category.

Anyways, this is a unique design that I would imagine should make residential wind power more prominent. PLus no birds are going to fly into these and die...

My concern would be how often do these have to be taken down for maintainence and refilling the gas to maintain bouyancy?

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Good out of the box thinking
written by gdftgre, March 07, 2007

THis would be good for game events and you can have advertisements on the side too. It could generate some of the statium's energy perhaps.

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Wind Turbines
written by James, March 28, 2007

I love the idea of this design, but i would be surprised if it takes off. If it does take off, i recon it will be because of the hight at which you can place them, allowing the MARS to take advantage of much more powerful winds than your average turbine.

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Gas
written by David, April 26, 2007

you might not have to necessarilly fill it with gas, just use some of the electricity generated to heat the air inside the blimp, it might work I dont know enough to be absolutely sure

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written by Matt, May 02, 2007

How much does one of these devices cost for a homeowner?

Question for anyone that has advice

I am a middle school science teacher in NYC and was thinking about buying several acres of farm land and installing wind turbines to have transferred into the powerlines. yes, I am looking to sell the power to the power company. Am I living a pipedream. Can this be done on a semi small scale with jus several windmills? Any advice????

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Advice for the NYC teacher
written by Christoph, July 27, 2007

Look to Europe! There are many wind turbine customers, often private land owners (farmers in particular) who rent their land to power companies to put up wind turbines or put them up at their own expense; not seldom these eco-energy entrepreneurs just put one, two, or three units up. Hence you don't have a pipe dream. And remember the wind turbine owners in Europe have much more complaints due to noise because of the much higher population per square kilometer. In the US where land is still available at little cost, buy the land and go ahead. Make sure you put the turbines up at least 1 mile away from any home (noise!).

Regarding the article itself: the German manufactrurer REpower even has a 5000kW turbine; far beyond the 2000kW the MARS makes. Check your source again. ;)

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home wind power
written by Shadi, August 30, 2007

I would like to import home wind power turbine to producing electricity so I would like to know what the spacification which we need for that and to get idia about the price thanking your coperations.

Shadi

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wow...
written by anonymous, December 18, 2007

If this thing produces 2 megawatts every hour of every day of the year, and you can sell the electricity at 5¢ per kilowatt-hour, this could bring in a tidy annual revenue of over a million us dollars per year... That's quite attractive.

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OOH LAALAA
written by WACO JACKO, January 03, 2008

DAM MY DICK HURTS

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written by Bill, March 20, 2008

Make sure you put the turbines up at least 1 mile away from any home (noise!).

Why does everyone talk about noise and bird deaths?? Who cares?

I'd be much more worried about HUMAN SAFETY than anything else. Dozens of people have been killed by wind turbines. You really don't want one anywhere near your house.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3FZtmlHwcA

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written by Barbara Gregory, March 30, 2008

How much does one sell wind-generated electricy for? Who buys it?

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report
written by Linda, May 20, 2008

hey, I'm doing a report on this blimp power. anybody know where i can get more info on how it works?

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written by Braxton Grizzard, August 07, 2008

Keep it going and bring it to the USA.

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written by Manny, December 19, 2008

I checked out the web site for deatils beacause eliminating the cost and hassle of a tower really intrigued me. Getting it up to a standard height of 400 feet is incredible. Wind is a lot better at that height. I also love the fact thatthese would be much easier to install and service than a traditional wind turbine. Their web site is excellent with tons of info in the FAQ page.

Now for the bad news: They're only 40 to 50% as efficient in using the wind as a standard wind turbine. They are expected to be pretty expensive, somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,000 to $75,000. They don't come with the helium so you need to add another $10,000 or the winch, another $3,000?

Looks like a great idea but the cost sounds pretty unsettled and probably will keep the system from really taking off. The emergency power idea sounds like what they will need to make their money on, at least initially.

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Horizontal wind turbine
written by Horizontal  wind turbine, May 20, 2009

A horizontal wind turbine is built with a propeller-type rotor on a horizontal axis, rather than on a vertical axis. The rotor’s purpose is to convert the linear motion of wind into rotational energy that is then used to drive a generator. All grid-connected commercial wind turbines today are horizontal.

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