Magenn gets its MARS floating wind turbine off the ground

We've already seen some wind turbines designed to float offshore, but Canadian startup Magenn Power has some ideas of its own for getting wind power off the ground and, judging by its latest tests, it seems to be making some considerable progress. Its solution, dubbed the Magenn Air Rotor System (or MARS), is designed to float between 600 and 1,000 feet above the ground, and spin on the horizontal axis to generate electricity, giving it a power capacity of anywhere from 10 kilowatts to several megawatts depending on the configuration. While they've apparently yet to extract any juice from it, the company has at least recently gotten a prototype off the ground at a massive airship testing facility in North Carolina, and it has apparently now set its sights on an outdoor test, although there's no word as to when that might go down. What's more, as Greentech Media reports, while the company apparently plans to first market a 100 kilowatt version for industrial use, it also hopes to eventually enter the consumer market with smaller models that people "can take camping or use at their cottage," although it admits that prospect has been put on the backburner for now.

[Via Protein]

[The 3rd Hot Dog @ May 5th 2008 3:13PM]

I wish they had a better picture on their site. I'm picturing something of a log-rolling affair, only with a blimp. In the sky.

[christopheraven @ May 5th 2008 3:15PM]

and the official corporate sponsor would be.. Trojan?

[Stem $ell @ May 5th 2008 6:00PM]

...Oh I wish I were an Oscar-Martian weiner!

[Dan Davis @ May 5th 2008 3:22PM]

I'm sure the FAA is going to LOVE having these things tied off to people's homes, floating 600 feet above the ground.

[Josh @ May 5th 2008 3:24PM]

hopefully these aren't too hard to avoid in our flying cars...

[Mic2000 @ May 5th 2008 3:35PM]

Awesome concept, I wished all these company's could start a little bit faster with bringing these products to the market.

[IndiaTech @ May 5th 2008 3:56PM]

That looks like a condom that Hulk would use. A small tinge of Green and it would be perfect!

[Jherez @ May 5th 2008 10:44PM]

I wonder what lead you to think of such a thing...

[Nicholas Hall @ May 5th 2008 4:04PM]

More on this at Greentech Media:

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/a-balloon-in-the-wind-market-787.html

[bamboo @ May 5th 2008 4:12PM]

They are actually built in Elizabeth City, NC, where I went to high school. I have been in the hanger where they are being built. There were 2 huge hangers, and it was the largest wooden structure east of the Mississippi River before it burned down a few years ago.
Picture:
http://www.3ddev.com/Tschuss/Logs/images/Blimp.jpg

Here you can see the 4 support beams on the left where the hanger used to be.

Pink Floyd's blimp was actually from there, and died there too:
http://www.brain-damage.co.uk/miscellaneous-articles/the-great-pink-floyd-airship-mystery.html

[duffman @ May 5th 2008 4:13PM]

I give them..um, an A for effort. Yeah...something like that.

[phanbouy @ May 5th 2008 4:48PM]

BALLS!

[TIMMAH! @ May 5th 2008 5:44PM]

Well you'd think they could finance it thru ad revenues...

[AJ in the East Bay @ May 5th 2008 6:43PM]

Boobs!

[Jongscx @ May 5th 2008 8:42PM]

Anyone else thought that these were to be initially used to generate electricity... ON MARS?

[Seoul Brother @ May 5th 2008 8:43PM]

Isn't it painful for the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man to have gone through a bris at his age?

[dervheid @ May 6th 2008 3:05AM]

100kW Industrial Version? Just WHAT do they expect the payback time to be on one of these P.O.S.
If they could get 100MW out of one, THEN it would be interesting.
Please do not hold your breath, people. It ain't gonna happen.

[Anam @ May 9th 2008 2:14PM]

We had communication with them for some trial in Pakistan, last year, and they told us, the prototype is still in trials.

We are confident that there is more demand for +1MW units everywhere, as oil is slipping out to 200$ by end of 2010. Its a good news they have the trials, will look forward for the data and details.