~ Why the future of wind energy might be closer than we think ~
For decades, wind energy has been defined by a single, unquestioned principle: bigger means better. Taller turbines, longer blades, wider spans, usually placed far away from where the energy is actually needed. It’s been an effective model, but not a particularly flexible one. Here, Jimish Patel, founder of AirPlus Renewables, a serial innovator, asks whether we’ve been focusing our efforts in the wrong places.
Instead of chasing perfect wind conditions in remote locations, could we make better use of the wind that already exists around us, especially in the built environment? That question leads me to what I call “EDGEWIND Tech”, a new approach to small-scale wind generation that captures energy in all environments, but also at the edge of buildings, closer to where the energy is actually used.
Interestingly, this concept wasn’t created in a lab or a design studio. It began on the side of a motorway. I was stopped on the M62 — one of the windiest stretches of road in the UK — and could physically feel the force of wind and passing vehicles pushing against me. It made me stop and think, if that much energy exists at ground level, why aren’t we using it?
Rethinking where wind works
Traditional wind turbines are built around a very specific idea of wind: non-turbulent, consistent, uninterrupted wind flows. That’s why they’re so often placed high above the ground or far out at sea. The problem is that kind of wind doesn’t exist in most places we actually live and work.
In cities, around buildings, along roads, wind behaves differently. It changes direction, varies in speed and is far less predictable. For a long time, that made it seem unusable.
EDGEWIND Tech flips that assumption. Instead of avoiding turbulent wind, it’s designed to work with it. In fact, it captures both turbulent and non-turbulent airflow at the same time, which is something that conventional turbines struggle to do. Suddenly rooftops, transport corridors, industrial sites and exposed infrastructure become viable sites for generating wind energy, rather than locations where it goes to waste.
While the built environment is an obvious starting point, the same principles apply in a much wider range of settings, from coastal locations to transport networks and remote sites where wind conditions are often stronger and more consistent.
Why the edge matters
In the same way that edge computing moved data processing closer to where it’s generated, EDGEWIND Tech is about generating energy closer to where it’s actually used. It’s decentralised by design.
One of the advantages of this approach is how easily it scales. Instead of relying on a single large installation, systems can be deployed incrementally, whether that’s one unit, a handful of units, or scaled across entire estates, depending on the energy requirement.
That thinking carries through to the physical placement. The edge of a building is where airflow changes in ways that can be harnessed more effectively. As wind hits a structure, part of it continues horizontally, while another portion is pushed upwards along the face of the building. At the edge, those two forces create a concentration of energy that would otherwise be lost. In some cases, that can increase the available energy by 20 to 40 per cent
A different kind of efficiency
Wind energy has always had an efficiency problem when put into practice. A lot of wind simply passes through turbines without being used. Fixing that usually means making turbines taller, with longer blades or more complex in attempts to capture more air, which brings its own challenges.
Instead of scaling up, EDGEWIND Tech rethinks how the wind is captured in the first place. By designing and arranging blades so that airflow is continuously handed from one blade to the next, it removes the gaps where energy would be lost. The focus moves away from chasing theoretical limits and towards something more grounded: how much usable energy you can actually generate in real conditions.
What this means in practice is that less of the available wind is lost. Instead of allowing airflow to pass through unused, the system is designed to make more consistent use of it, particularly in the kind of variable conditions where traditional turbines tend to underperform.
Bringing the generation closer to use
One of the more compelling aspects of this approach is how practical it is. These systems don’t rely on large-scale infrastructure or long planning cycles. They’re designed for all environments and areas, but can also sit on existing buildings, have a similar installation method to solar panels and start generating power quickly, within a matter of hours rather than days or weeks.
Instead of generating energy in one place and transporting it somewhere else, EDGEWIND Tech generates electricity at the point of use. For energy-intensive sites like hospitals, data centres or commercial buildings, this has obvious advantages. But the longer-term benefit is broader than that. It suggests a future where energy is more local, more distributed and less dependent on centralised systems.
EDGEWIND Tech isn’t trying to replace traditional wind farms. There will always be a role for large-scale generation. But it does point to a gap in the market, one that sits somewhere between utility-scale renewables and rooftop solar.
Unlike solar, which is dependent on daylight and orientation, wind is comparably higher during energy-demanding winter months, which makes it a dependable source. That makes EDGEWIND Tech complementary rather than competitive, able to generate power when solar cannot, particularly overnight or during low-light conditions.
It’s a space that has historically been crowded with underperforming solutions, which is perhaps why it’s been overlooked. EDGEWIND Tech resets those expectations and shows that small-scale wind doesn’t have to mean small impact.
Learn more about the latest activities and news from AirPlus by visiting https://airplusrenewables.com/blog
About AirPlus Renewables:
AirPlus Renewables designs intelligent, decentralised energy systems that power a cleaner, freer future. The company champions innovation, sustainability and freedom through next-generation renewable technology built for the real world.
Contact details: David Axon, AirPlus Renewables Ltd, Unit 14, Century Building, Tower Street, Brunswick Business Park, Liverpool, L3 4BJ
www: https://airplusrenewables.com/
Telephone: +44 (0) 330 133 5878
e-mail: info@airplusrenewables.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/airplus-renewables/
Press enquiries: Jessica Phillips or Phil Morgan, Stone Junction
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Telephone: +44 (0) 1785 225416
e-mail: jessica@stonejunction.co.uk or philip@stonejunction.co.uk