Review on the technical perspectives and commercial viability of vertical axis wind turbines

A review of existing technical challenges and their potential solutions in the development of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) is presented in the context. Over the last decade, VAWTs have received increasing attention from researchers and scientists due to their inherent features such as omni-directional property, simplification of the blade geometry, lower noise generated, and easy accessibility attributed to the ground-based generators. However, their major drawbacks such as lower power coefficient, poor self-starting capability, and fatigue issues due to cyclic aerodynamics loads, make them less competitive than Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWTs). This paper will share a new perspective on the state of the art VAWTs to explore the new opportunity and possibility for their commercial viability. A comprehensive comparison was performed between VAWTs and HAWTs focused in different sections on their aerodynamic performance, efficiency, power density in a wind farm, and self-starting ability. The objective of the review paper is to identify technical barriers, design challenges and the future of commercial VAWTs in the wind turbine market, currently dominated by conventional HAWTs. The paper will address what the major technical barriers for VAWTs to compete against HAWTs in future. Moreover, the review will discuss if the innovative technologies proposed in the last decade are commercially feasible to overcome drawbacks of VAWTs. The paper will also explore if VAWTs are more competitive in offshore application through the lessons learned from onshore turbines installed.