Its Granada-based inventor is now in negotiations with three engineering consultancies to build a micro-scale prototype.

David Sarria Jimenez’s unusual Generador Eolico De Aspas Y Cometas (Gedayc) design, which promises 60% more power production than conventional three-blade turbines, was inspired by his experience wind- and kite-surfing in the Mediterranean. “I am an avid windsurfer and I have observed how the wind causes windsurfers to sail along the water surface and kite-surfers to fly up to great heights,” explains Jimenez. “It made me think that the two shapes [of sail] could be combined to make a wind turbine that performed better.” The Gedayc concept uses flat-faced blades with a sharp leading edge – “much like a helicopter’s” – linked to the specially fashioned kites by articulated arms outfitted with ball-joints. At the centre of the rotor hub, a conical opening channels wind current through a hydraulic mechanism that allows the blades’ inclination to be flexed by up to 45 degrees, a feature designed to increase energy capture and reduce loads on the turbine.

“This system would make it possible for the blades and the kites to change their angle depending on the strength and direction of the wind,” says Jimenez. “The flexibility of the material of the kite will enable the trailing edges to help smooth the rotation.” Combining blades and kites should, according to Jimenez, give the turbine enough extra power to make it possible to reduce the rotor diameter by one third, cutting manufacturing costs and reducing the visual impact of the turbine’s profile.

Following on from first-run computational fluid dynamics, Jimenez is now building a fibreglass and carbon-fibre mini-prototype with a one-metre-diameter rotor, using funding from the Andalucian Department of Innovation, Science & Companies’ Innovation and Development Agency scheme.

Early discussions on testing the hybrid concepthave taken place with Spain’s National Renewable Energy Centre and the National Institute of Aerospace Technology, says Jimenez.

Although the Gedayc might be one of the first designs to meld kites and rotor blades, it is not the first to explore the potential of kite-driven energy.

Kite Gen Research in Chieri, Italy, is investigating using ‘kite steering units’ pulled by power kites along a ring-shaped, ‘carousel’ path at ground level to harness the wind. Another, being run out of the University of Delft in The Netherlands, is a high-altitude concept called a ‘laddermill’, which is made up of a vertical echelon of kites that uses an up-and-down treadmill motion to turn a ground-based generator.