Have you heard of Windela? Windela S.A. is a company based in France that has come up with a great idea and has developed an independent street lamp that runs on 2 combined energy sources, the wind and sunlight.
While the questions related to renewable energies are omnipresent, WINDELA developed this street lamp product based on the following criteria:
- That it is a sustainable development
- Based on renewable energies
- Has a public economic interest
In this context, WINDELA has managed to develop and release a product onto the market which offers a revolutionary alternative to urban and sub-urban lighting combining ecology and savings
WINDELA, is the very first truly independent and street lighting system, working with renewable energies (wind and solar), using no fossil energy and then, supplying light at no cost other than the low maintenance of the system. It is not just a street lighting system, it can also work as an autonomous and long-range WiFi relay. What a great and innovative idea.
MWPS World has looked a bit closer at this product and the facts surrounding the cost of public street lighting. The energy expenditure dedicated to lighting is nearly 35% of any local common municipalities budget for their energy bill. Public lighting uses up to 12% of the total fossil fuel produced in the world.
WINDELA is a new concept of a combined solar and wind-powered streetlamp which has many advantages. It is independent and there are no costs of burying cables. Maintenance costs are extremely low. Once installed, there is no expenditure on energy. The standard single unit system delivers continuous lighting of 23 lux on a floor area of 25m x 6m. It uses 42 LEDs and each LED is consuming only 2 Watts. It has its own battery storage system which can provide four ten-hour nights lighting without an external energy source.
Two renewable energy sources bring the system to life. First, the wind and secondly, the sun. The wind turbine section is built using a combination of two wind blades architectures: The Savonius type which are 2 semi-cylinders in alternate rows that start when only low amounts of wind are present.
Then The Darrieus type consists of two curved blades that offer very good performance at high wind speed. The “genius” invention behind this is the combination of both.
Windela uses The Savonius and the Darrieus turbine rotors which were increased to 3 blades and provide maximum performance whatever the wind conditions. It starts with low winds and gives maximum performance with medium and strong wind. Then add the second concept, The solar cells. These are fixed on the top of the light bowl. The combination of the two concepts (adding the solar cells) gives additional energy of 200Wh per day and can compensate for an eventual severe lack of wind.
Windela has a smart onboard electronic brain that controls the whole unit. For security, it stops the wind generator automatically when the wind reaches 20m/s. It controls the charge and discharge cycles of the battery to optimize its lifetime and is timing the on and off states of the streetlamp. It has a build-in self-testing circuit that is continuously active and detects any failures or malfunctioning of the individual components and transmits the data via radio waves to a local control receiver. The system regulates lighting level depending on the level of light required, it allows internet access to people in an isolated area, supports WiFi or WIMAX relays, can give power to other relays like televisions or phones and is also designed to receive new WiFi relays long-range technologies.
A truly amazing invention that could go a long way and could help local councils drastically reduce their energy bill for public lighting. Please post your comments. MWPS World is interested in what you have to say about this concept.
