Federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane yesterday announced Adelaide-based Stellar Energy had received a $64,000 Commercialising Emerging Technologies (COMET) grant to develop the wind energy project.
“Stellar Energy’s wind turbine project is an innovative development in renewable energy, which – when commercialised – may offer an alternative to inverters and battery packs,” Macfarlane said.
The turbine is designed to generate electricity when the wind is blowing in any direction and can convert the single-phase output from the turbine back to the grid.
Macfarlane said the company would use its COMET funding for business planning, an export strategy, market research, intellectual property protection and a working prototype.
Similar products have been developed overseas. Canadian company Sustainable Energy Technologies and US-based McKenzie Bay International
have also produced vertical axis wind turbines.
