Why do they have to be derelict? Why can't they be retrofitted to existing towers?

Why haven't we done this yet?! It's so simple...

This really is an awesome idea. You can derelict my balls.

I agree. I see no reason why these cannot be installed in towers currently in use.

I would guess that the wires can only carry so much capacity, so if you put them in existing tower there may be a problem there... still seems like you could collect energy at night though.... you'd still have to have an upgraded grid that could store the energy somewhere though.

@nicholasjh

It would be a problem either way, alot would have to be done to store, separate, and carefully manage the new influx of power.

In a normal power plant, stuff like that is usually locally managed, and easily maintained. These, like wind farms, would require a different and probably more demanding method of control and care.

what took you so long to recognize something that has been staring you in the face all along

what took you so long to recognize something that has been staring you in the face all along. Tell me what it is you know!

Talk about screamingly obvious...

There is no such thing as renewable energy. The law of conservation of matter/energy clearly states that ENERGY CANNOT BE CREATED OR DESTROYED. If you took a college swcience cource you would know that.

I am sorry i just have to comment on AGSB, Renewable energy is any naturally occurring, theoretically inexhaustible source of energy, as biomass, solar, wind, tidal, wave, and hydroelectric power, that is not derived from fossil or nuclear fuel. (And this is straight from the dictionary) I i could understand your argument if you were talking about FREE Energy.

Also if you have really taken a college Science course then you should have also taken English or some sort of grammar class. Because its Science not "swcience" and Course not "cource". Now if you just have a crappy keyboard or something then i am sorry for mentioning anything.

why does DVICE captcha suck so much?

@agsb
it's not "making energy", it's "channeling/converting energy." There's tons of energy out there, just floating around, but you need a way to turn it into something you can use. You dont put air or sunlight directly into a car's engine, it's not that kind of energy.

Now, this is intriguing, I like the idea of putting all pieces of tech to work (use all parts of the buffalo). Only piece of criticism: same problems as regular windmills. The most spectacular thing about it is that little bit about "pumping energy directly into the grid."

Is there any data on what types of mechanical strain these rigs can take? I imagine part of the use of derelict towers is so that the movement of the blades doesn't torsion the entire structure and warp the wires, which are called high tension for a reason. Also, it looks like not all structures can support this type of power generation. Still, these cheap, micropower solutions en masse might prove to be somewhat effective

Can't give energy to the grid. Grid goes at High Voltage, would need a transformer in each tower (outrageously expensive), and the windmills generate at low voltage.
Lines could take this extra amperes, that's not the problem. Windmills (on that size and configuration) are very low in energy density. I would like to check that 5% they claim.
Other thing: such disseminated schema is not econom. worth, too much mechanical to keep fine for such low energy density. Economical worthiness comes in concentration. Regular windmills are greater and greater and have limited mechanical parts.
This is just a concept, you will never see it on.

These are beautiful concepts, however, I think putting the blades inside the towers will greatly reduce power. I have been on radio towers and can say that the wind is definitely there, I ran into problems with a home wind turbine in that if the wind direction is disrupted or turbulent, you don't get near as much power out.

As for theory - each tower would only contribute a small amount of power, but the total power would add up nicely. As Luis said, the lines on towers such as this run at ridiculously high voltages. The total current would be low for each generator, but insulation and safety factors would add dramatically to the cost.

The final consideration is whether the failure of a blade might endanger the entire transmission line. The entire US grid is built like a shanty town. It works well and does what it needs, but it doesn't like to be shaken.

I had a similar idea.It was rotary wind mils like these, but on top of regular telephone poles in the city. Unfortunately I don't have any idea how feasable it is. I suspect that Luis' concerns are quite accurate.

If that is the case, I wonder if you couldn't put a few wind towers at the sub stations around town, it doesn't have as much potential as this, but at least the sub stations already have big transformers.

Great idea , But I doubt that current poles are strong enough handle the load of wires and wind mills .
Then again it's nothing well thought out redesign can't fix .

OK it's obvious that you have a great idea, now put it in to some succinct form, then present it to the people who are in a position to really do something about it and I will definitely vote for it as well as be an active proponent! Bravo!

Brilliant and obvious. Nobody thought of it before because we are trained to think with the majority view and avoid individuality. We are 'socialized' toward sheepdom. As to free energy, whence does all this non-free energy arise? I think you may find that this light-speed continuum is sandwiched between others, and that what we consider a constant is actually the state of flux between them. Dark energy and dark matter may be the interface mechanisms between continuums.

Interesting idea. Unfortunately handicapped by the following issues:
- As Luis said Each tower would need a transformer capable of stepping the voltage produced up to the voltage in the lines, and the maintenance issues caused by so many mechanical devices spread over such a large area.
- Safety: the insulators used on those towers are meant to be replaced approximately every 15 years, and inspected every 6 to 12 months. So you'd need a way to isolate the generators from the line to ensure the field personnel all go home at the end of their day.
(Add circuit breakers and isolators to the cost per generator)
While is possible to work on the lines while they are live, it is generally avoided.
- The towers are designed and tested to a set wind rating. "Derelict" towers would not generally be designed to take the extra loading caused by the generator.-
In my part of the world we have to remove towers that are no longer in use or the locals do silly things like climbing them while drunk or using sections to reinforce gates. (don't ask)
- Assuming these issues could be dealt with you then have the problem of getting the amps from the generator to the line. Those lines have minimum approach distances associated with the voltages used. Getting cable from the inside of the tower to the lines would be a major hassle, even if XLPE UGC (Under ground cable) was used.

Now if they can come up with economically viable solutions to those issues, then they may just have a very good idea on thier hands.

Steelfox hand an interesting idea. These could be used in towers around substations. Especially if they fed power through UGC straight to the sub, bypassing the overhead lines. The sub would need to have extra bays of circuit breakers and isolators and a couple of transformers to accommodate the extra feed. But then we get back to cost vs benefit.

Still good to see people are thinking about alternative sources.

Too bad, it takes more energy to manufacture and install these windmills than what they could produce.

Luis and shed_dweller have summarised most of the problems, but I'd add that power lines are probably sited to avoid wind loading, not maximise it, so what you have a is a collection of poorly sited microturbines in turbulent wind (because of the towers) so you are doing no better than rooftop urban wind turbines, which perform very poorly.

I'm sure that these could generate small amounts of useful energy, but it would be very expensive. In windpower size is everything for minimising cost per kWh.

What if instead of trying to put a transformer on each tower/pole you ran either a seperate line or used an unused line to run the power down. Then you could put the transformer every 5 or 10 (insert valid number here) towers cutting down the costs some.

Hmm i came up with the same ideea in the comments on a previous tread a few weeks ago.
but i guess there is a lot of issues, that will make this hard to implement.
but hey,,,they stole my ideea...lol

I am confused, what is the new thing? what I can see just is some wind turbine generator......

Regarding the high-voltage/low-voltage issue, would it be possible to just reserve, convert, or add a line to carry the generated power. Of course, if my rudimentary understanding of voltage is correct, low voltages cannot be transmitted over long distances, correct?

I wonder what a field of these would sound like?

?!? I have been sending a "Pinwheels' idea about retrofitting the interiors of these utility towers with little windmills to use the wind howling through them to make free electricity for YEARS now, to DOE with zero reply and all over the Internet. And there was a big magazine contest with a big prize for the same thing?! Unbelievable!!!

Unfortunately the public are not educated in engineering: that's why we have engineers. Someone should have asked one before calling this "brilliant". it is daft and impractical.
- difficult to access to install or service the blades
- extreme danger for anyone working on it
- towers not built for the stresses
- turbulence within the structure: this will be a low efficiency device
- there's a reason we build a small number of huge windmills: economies of scale.
- expensive to travel to the site to service them: turbines need a LOT more attention than a static tower
- transmission towers tend NOT to be built in high wind areas for obvious reasons: definitely not on optimal sites
- voltage mismatch: transformer and load management on every tower?? There's a reason we gather them together in "wind farms": shared infrastructure (and servicing)
- if a blade shatters it will take out the grid
- and so on and so on...