ecoPower develops, designs, installs, operates, and services Floating- Windfarms-at-Sea™ for ourselves and for others, using 500 kW floating vertical axis wind turbines "Floating-VAWTs ™ " to convert the strong wind at sea to ‘green’ electricity at low costs.
In a strong wind region at sea with annual mean wind velocity of 9.5 meters per second of, it is estimated that a 100 MW Floating-Windfarms-at-Sea(TM) can generate 360 million kWh of electricity per year! We expect to further increase the annual electricity production through technology improvements.
In many regions of the world, wind velocity at sea is higher than that on land and over offshore shallow waters. And, wind power at sea is even stronger , as wind power is proportional to wind velocity to the 3rd power. A 26% increase in wind velocity will double the wind power! (1.26^3 = 2.00). See the section on ”Strong Wind at Sea” The principal advantage of a Floating- Windfarm-at-Sea™ is that it can be placed in a strong wind region at sea, to generate a large amount of ‘green’ electricity at a low cost. As such, using the Floating-Windfarms-at-Sea™ , the rich and abundant wind energy resources at sea can be converted to ‘green’ electricity at low costs – to greatly reduce the global energy, air pollution, and climate change problems!
The 500 kW Floating-VAWT™, integrates an 500 kW VAWT with a floating platform that is anchored to the sea floor (see Exhibit 3a). This eliminates the need for expensive foundations and installations.
The 500 kW VAWT is an improved and expanded version of the 300 kW VAWT jointly developed by FloWind Corporation and Sandia National Lab in 1984. It was the largest and most cost-effective wind turbine at that time. For their contributions, FloWind and Sandia jointly received the top national award for energy innovation for 1984, from the U.S. Department of Energy. FloWind installed and operated more than 500 of these 100 kW and 300 kW VAWTs in two windfarms in California. Many of these low-cost VAWTs had operated in California for over 20 years. Dr. Pao, a Member of the National Academy of Engineering USA, is the founder of FloWind and ecoPower. Dr Pao served as the CEO of FloWind from 1981 to 1986.
The Floating VAWT™ can be: assembled in low-cost boat-yards on shore; towed to the site at sea; self-erected at sea; and quickly anchored and connected to the power grid for electricity generation. It can also be quickly disconnected from the power grid and anchors, and towed back to boat- yards for repairs and maintenance. These design features will enable us to avoid the high costs of assembly, installation, repairs and maintenance at sea!
In case of typhoon or hurricane, the Floating VAWT™ can be tilted down and pulled underwater, to avoid the strong impacts from the gusty wind and high waves.
We expect to reduce the costs of electricity from Floating-Windfarms-at-Sea ™ to less than the costs of coal-fired electricity in coastal regions through (1) further technical improvements; (2) quantity production of Floating- VAWTs ™; and (3) develop GW-scale Floating-Windfarms-at-Sea™.
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Exhibit - 3a |