Help us, pleads wind power innovator

1 June 2012
Media release

Help us, pleads wind power innovator

A company whose technology has been described as one of the world’s leading innovations in wind power says that policies in this country are making it almost impossible to turn good ideas into export earnings.

Carbon News (www.carbonnews.co.nz) reports today that Glasgow wind expert Peter Jamieson has singled out the Gyroscopic Variable Transmission, designed by New Zealander Jega Jegatheeson, for special mention in his new book, Innovation in Wind Turbine Design.

But a member of the board of Gyro Technologies Ltd, which owns the technology, says that while there is huge international interest, developing it beyond the laboratory is proving difficult and greater Government support is needed.
The gyro overcomes the problem of wind turbulence straining gearboxes on wind turbines, by using gyroscopic reaction forces to transfer the power from the blades to the generator with less stress on the turbine.
The technology can be produced much more cheaply than traditional gear boxes can, and also reduces ongoing maintenance and down-time costs.
Gyro Technologies board member and consultant Warren Snow says that he has been told by international wind experts that there is huge potential for the technology.

“Existing wind farms are having to wait for up to a year to get their gearboxes fixed,” he said. “This downtime costs 1000 euros a day per turbine, so there is certainly going to be interest in something that prevents that.”

Snow told Carbon News that the Jegatheeson – a former Electricity Corporation engineer – has proven his design at the prototype level, and the next stage is taking it up to scale.

“We’ve got an existing windfarm operator who’s willing to test it on a turbine, but we’ve got to raise the $2 million to build a gyro big enough,” he said.

And that is what is proving difficult. Snow says that while Government investment is available, companies are required to match it with private funding, and the Ministry of Science and Innovation is reluctant to invest in projects perceived as risky.

“There is a lack of risk-taking in Government, but this is an area in which risk is the name of the game,” he said.

Snow says that that Government should increase the amount it will grant without requiring matching private investment, from $5000 to $100,000.

“That would let companies like us get going and get some momentum up and then we could attract the private investment,” he said.

Snow says the company hopes to be able to manufacture the gyros in New Zealand.
“The lower production costs of the gryo compared to the existing technology means that we could afford to pay higher wage costs in New Zealand and manufacture here,” he said.
ends

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