Innovation In Wind Power Takes Time

The story A whale of a tale in the Toronto Star is dated by a couple of months, but it makes a good point that innovation in the wind power industry takes time.

The innovation in this case is a new type of wind turbine blade that is patterned after the flipper of a humpback whale. The designer of this product, Toronto-based Stephen Dewar of startup WhalePower Corp, claims this design will allow the turbine to create wind energy at much lower speeds.

From the article:

It means turbines manufactured with WhalePower blades would be capable of capturing energy where the wind is less strong, as conventional turbines tend to stall when wind speeds fall too low. Not only would this improve the business case for individual wind farms, it broadens the natural geography suitable for large-scale wind generation.

Although Dewar's invention seems to have potential, like many other innovations in this area, it may never see the light of day. There is so much demand for current products, there may not be anyone willing to take a chance on a new approach.

A source in the article used this analogy:

"It's like trying to break into the semiconductor business," says Kerry Adler, chief executive of Toronto-based wind developer SkyPower Corp.

"You're going to be hard-pressed to convince Dell Computer to put a new processing chip on their motherboards, particularly if it's not proven. In the wind industry, you'll have to have a thousand turbines in the ground before anybody gives (a technology) a second look."

And how do a thousand turbines get on ground when nobody gives a technology a second look?

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