Can we harvest wind energy in cities?

Wind energy is the most mature renewable energy technology; however, its exploitation in cities is often met with skepticism. Thanks to their ability to operate at low wind speed regardless of direction, vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) offer an attractive opportunity for wind energy harvesting in cities. However, limited evidence exists on their potential in complex urban environments.

In this study, led by Aldo Brandi, we used a suite of year long, high-resolution (333 m) WRF simulations to explicitly calculate wind energy microgeneration potentials in the cities of Lausanne and Geneva.

Our results show that a small-size, small budget, vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) can produce, on average, the energy equivalent of approximately 18 square meters of photovoltaic panels. VAWTs hold a great potential to improve renewable energy production where it is most needed, urban areas, avoiding energy loss due to transport and distribution while easing anthropogenic pressure on natural landscapes.

With this research we fill a knowledge gap in the wind energy field by providing an unprecedented first-order wind speed and energy microgeneration assessment in urban environments based on realistic representations of urban landscapes and meteorology.