Windfire

The majority of heat supply worldwide is still supplied by burning fossil fuels. The lack of carbon-neutral heat supply is a problem on a global scale, which affects millions of households and large parts of industrial enterprises.

In our home country Germany, over 50% of the final energy demand is heat. Here, heat energy is supposed to be renewable by 2045 in order to meet climate targets. Yet, only 19% of heat in Germany is renewable today. To achieve a transition to 100% renewable energy in the heat sector, there are not yet realistic technological perspectives available.

Proposed pathways and scenarios do not allow a complete heat transition in an economically sound or carbon-neutral way in time.

Major solutions for renewable heat generation are at hand, which all have distinct advantages, but also decisive drawbacks. Solar thermal energy is an important part of the solution, but inefficient in winter times, requires a lot of space and limited in its maximum temperature level. Moreover, a significant portion of the heat transition in Germany relies on heat pumps, which run on electricity. Here, grid capacity and costs of expansion are limiting factors that prohibit an all-electric energy system in the foreseeable future. Geothermal energy is a good part of the solution, but strongly dependent on given geological conditions and still very expensive (often too expensive). Burning biomass in CHP plants on large scale is not carbon neutral and resource intensive. Furthermore, in Germany planning for the energy transition relies on substituting natural gas with green hydrogen, which is supposed to close the gap between heat demand and supply. However, the necessary quantities in hydrogen are not available. Firstly, they are needed in other sectors, as well, such as mobility. Further, using hydrogen creates new energy dependencies from exporting countries. Generation capacities, transport facility and infrastructure have yet to be built. The price level remains an open question.

All of the solutions mentioned are without a doubt an important part of the heat transition, but they are not sufficient for a cost-efficient 100%-renewable scenario. There is not yet a solution for cheap renewable heat with a high temperature level in winter times that does not rely on combustion. Another dimension of the problem is the timeline. If we do not achieve substantial reduction in energy-related greenhouse gas emissions fast enough, global warming cannot be limited enough even for the 2° scenario. There is not yet a technology at hand that is able to provide heat energy on large scale in time.

We have developed a technology, that can rapidly provide cheap and reliable heat energy in Gigawatt scale. We use existing state-of-the-art wind turbines to produce heat directly. To this end, we change the core of the wind turbine: the electrical system is replaced by a thermal system. The main parts of the wind turbine, rotor, nacelle, and tower remain unchanged. Thereby, we can capitalize on more than 30 years of research and development in the wind industry. Major problems and obstacles, such as scale-up to 6+ MW system size and erecting processes have already been solved and perfected.

For the thermal system, all required components are proven and available from other industries: a fluid brake to generate heat, heat exchangers, pipe systems and pumps. We adapt these components for the intended purpose and integrate them into the thermal system.

Since the efficiency of transforming mechanical motion into heat is 100%, depending on the location, i.e. pipe losses, an energetic efficiency higher than for electrical turbines can be achieved. The thermal wind turbines we develop have lower capital expenses than electrical turbines, since expensive electrical equipment, such as the generator and transformers, can be avoided. First estimates range up to 20% reduction in CAPEX compared to standard wind turbines.

Furthermore, operating expenses are reduced. Firstly, a higher yield is possible, because the maximum power is not limited by the rated power of the generator and thus higher wind speeds can be exploited more efficiently. Secondly, the electrical system is responsible for 25% of the failures of wind turbines, which leads to costly down-times. The thermal system has different characteristics by nature, which essentially leads to the elimination of this cause of failure, resulting in significantly more operating hours.

The heat is generated in a primary fluid circle and transferred to a transport medium, i.e., water. Primary beneficiaries of this solutions are cities and communities with a district heating network, where wind thermal turbines can supply a substantial portion of the heat by connecting to the heating grid. Further, heat can be directly supplied to industrial facilities or chemical parks. Heat can be stored easily and inherently in the system by increasing the system temperature. Besides, heat energy storages are available at large-scale and low-cost.

In contrast to conventional technology, thermal wind turbines have almost no resource sensitivity (rare earth metals, copper). In contrast to electricity, they do not have a storage problem. No curtailment of fed-in power needs to be done, which usually leads to significant losses for turbine operators, which they have to be compensated for by the grid operator.

Wind thermal turbines can be used to defossilize district heating networks, thereby having the potential to provide clean and cheap energy to millions of households. Reliable, affordable energy is the foundation of our economy. On the one hand, our solution serves energy providers. On the other hand, it serves customers by lowering the price level of energy, creating energy security and mitigating climate change. By decreasing the use of combustion technologies such as biomass CHP plants, a direct health effect by avoiding particulate emissions.

We believe this technology is a big step away from coal, which directly has negative effects on the health and well-being of the people who produce it, those who are forced to live near coal mines, but also those who live with the pollution created by burning coal. Similarly, this applies to oil and gas.

Wind thermal turbines can supply high temperature heat directly to industrial facilities. By supplying cheap energy, they create a benefit directly to those enterprise, but also achieve an overall economic welfare gain.

Similarly to electrical wind turbines, it will be possible for private individuals and energy cooperatives to invest in these projects.

We have been working on disruptive wind energy technologies for the past two years. Specifically, we are part of the team the builds the highest wind turbine worldwide (360 Meters). That is how we know what it takes to break through technological barriers in established industries and open up new pathways.

Since we rely on already existing wind turbine technology, i.e., our solution will look and behave exactly the same. Thereby, we do not only capitalize on the technological development of the past 30 years, but also on the societal development. In Europe, feedback from communities and people have influenced the design of wind turbines over the years (e.g., noise level, appearance, number of rotor blades, …) and the implementation (e.g., legal standards for wind turbines, for example, the closest possible distance to the population).

We argue that wind turbines as such already pose a great deal of compromise between economic needs and a technology on this scale on the one hand, and the well-being and social needs of our society on the other hand. This is a process, which as been on-going with high intensity over the last decades. We will continue this process through already established means, such as civil and communal participation.

We have developed a detailed technological concept. We selected the “Prototype” stage, since all components we rely on are proven components with a technological readiness level of 9. Moreover, our considerations are rooted in a large number of scientific publications. Some of them already describe prototypes on the basis of which a pilot plant can be designed in the next step.

Windfire supplies a solution on a global scale and therefore needs strong partners. We are looking for investors and strategic partners with a long-term interest in the technology and customers for a pilot plant. Futhermore, we look for a partnership within the wind industry to accelerate developement. Moreover, we look for advise and training that helps us on our mission.