Why not put photovoltaic cells on to the blades of wind turbines?

[iNow]

Seriously. Would this work? Grab that extra bit of energy from the sunlight and add it to the energy already being generated by the wind turbines?

[big314mp]

The question is...will the energy they produce be enough to pay for the cost of installing the PV cell. I'm thinking windy areas are generally not the sunniest places, so the answer to the above question would probably be no.

[Sisyphus]

Wouldn't it be easier just to put them on the ground? I mean, sure, it would work, but you can't put solar panels on every surface of everything, so you put them where they're cheapest and most effective.

[iNow]

Sisyphus - You're beautiful, man, and quite right. There I go, over-thinking things and over complicating them. I just saw all of that wasted surface area and thought, "Why not?"

 

 

I'm appreciate of your post. It cuts to the root of the question quite well.

[CaptainPanic]

First of all - all that surface area is:

We have about 55 meter blades (!), assuming an average breadth of 1.5 meters (just a guess) - that's 55*1.5*3 = 247.5 m2 for all 3 blades.

That means you can generate a whopping average power of about 2.5 kilowatts. That would increase the wind turbine's power output from 2 MW to about 2 MW... or in other words: it's totally negligible.

 

Furthermore, the blades are almost never under the perfect angle towards the sun, and because they need to catch wind, there will also never be any design which improves this.

 

In addition, the blades need to withstand massive tensions because of constantly changing wind speeds (at the top and bottom). These things are larger than any aircraft wing, the blade tip has a speed of about 80 m/s. Adding solar panels is not likely to increase the strength of the blades. In stead it just makes them heavier.

[iNow]

What if I painted pretty rainbows on the blades? Would that help?

 

 

Yeah. It was one of those "off the cuff" ideas I'd had and just didn't think it through. As I said to Sisyphus and big314, I agree that it makes tons more sense to have greater surface area and just put them on the ground around it. We just need to keep focussed on efficiency and greater energy generation per square meter overall, and creativity is good.

[npts2020]

Actually, weight may not be a problem in the future. I read about (SciAm I think but couldnt find it) a process where the silicon is laid down in atoms thick layers on a substrate with the result being more like sheets of aluminum foil. Whether the efficiency makes it practical or economical I would bet against at this point.

[DrP]

Actually, weight may not be a problem in the future. I read about (SciAm I think but couldnt find it) a process where the silicon is laid down in atoms thick layers on a substrate with the result being more like sheets of aluminum foil. Whether the efficiency makes it practical or economical I would bet against at this point.

 

 

In which case you could then cover the whole building as sisypuss suggested - and have some pannels around the building in it's 'garden' which are angled towards the sun to make a joint wind/solar powerstation.

 

In fact if you built the whole thing next to a river then you could have a paddle mill in the river and collect the energy as it goes over the water fall for hydro electric - even better, if you have it on the river estuary, then you could also have a few floaters in the sea collecting the wave power... giving us a 'solarwind-hydrowave' power station!! The employers could park their cars in car parks which have those new little ramps that go up and down as you go over them - thus adding more power to the mix as they go to and from work! What do you think? Solarwind-Hydrowave Powerstations for the future win??

[Sisyphus]

You should probably throw in some geothermal, maybe some exercise bikes.

[npts2020]

Great idea DrP, race you to the patent office. lmao.