aerogenerator

The ultimate aim is to build a 10-MW Aerogenerator X off-shore wind turbine farm providing 1 GW of power by 2020.

Unlike the familiar "propeller on a stick" turbines, the Aerogenerator has no tower and spins from a base which contains the generator and gearbox, harnessing wind energy from any direction.

The Aerogenerator Project, from Blyth, which designed a new wind turbine on a horizontal axis, won the Shell Springboard Prize.

This work is alongside a pioneering new vertical axis wind turbine called the Aerogenerator, which sits much lower to the ground than a conventional turbine and can be used in offshore wind farms.

SIR - In reply to Mr John Parker (Western Mail, June 27), aerogenerators (they are not turbines as they have no inlet or exhaust nozzles, vanes or guides) require a wind speed of 39 knots (45 mph) to obtain their rated output.

Shetland Aerogenerators started as an unlikely sideline to his father's company while he was at school.

The contract provides initially for the sale of 42 aerogenerators worth almost Euro 28 million, with a generating capacity equivalent to 36 MW of installed power, according to a statement from Gamesa.