Siberian innovator ready to tap wind energy in any weather conditions

Russia?s Bortnik Fund is supporting an Irkutsk regional start-up in Siberia with its new wind-driven power plant that can operate irrespective of wind directions or weather conditions.

Russia?s Bortnik Fund, a backer of early-stage technology teams in Russia, has pledged a $31,000 grant for an Irkutsk regional start-up in Siberia that has developed a new wind-driven power plant, the Skolkovo Foundation website reports. The key project developer is Yuri Kriulin, an alumnus of Irkutsk State Technical University (ISTU). To advance the project, a special company, AeroEnergoTech, has been set up to become a resident of Skolkovo, the government-sponsored innovation hub under construction just outside Moscow. In the new power plant, called AeroGreen, the developers have used an open-jet wind turbine to replace the conventional three-blade system. The company claims that AeroGreen can operate irrespective of wind directions or adverse weather conditions, such as hail, snowy rain, hurricane, etc. The cost of producing 1 kilowatt-hour of electrical energy on this new plant is half the cost of other wind generating solutions known today, the developers said. The project owners are said to have plans to bring current ISTU students on board for the fine-tuning of the system...