HARVESTING THE WIND THE INLAND WIND TURBINES OF THE FUTURE

THE INNOVATOR: HORST BENDIX, THE MAN FOR TOUGH TASKS

SPRIND AND BEVENTUM

Why We Are Committed

In Germany, the lack of locations for wind power plants is a major obstacle to an independent and future-proof energy supply. The concept suggested by Professor Bendix offers two possibilities for overcoming these obstacles. One is through the use of wind turbines which are so large that they are simply able to harvest the wind above existing wind parks. The other is to make wind turbines accessible to everyone in a way which is as simple as it is smart, thereby utilizing countless other potential locations outside wind parks. A structural transition for existing lignite regions, for example, would also be conceivable.

The Potential We See

The potential gained by adding a second level to existing wind parks is obvious. With a hub height of 300 meters, you start to reach heights which thus far have remained fully unexploited and can be achieved by adding a second level to existing wind parks with considerably less effort required to obtain permission. The affordable solution with medium and small wind turbines is attractive to any industrial area in Germany, whether it is a wind turbine with a hub height of 20 meters in every backyard or a six-meter-tall, very lightweight wind turbine on every flat roof which one day will be as normal as solar power systems are on the same roofs today.

Providing New Momentum

The goal of the wind energy industry is to continually optimize technical characteristics and further increase efficiency. It has gotten us far. At the same time, we are squandering lots of potential in that we are not considering legal frameworks and that we are viewing many regions as not productive. We are intentionally focusing on wind turbines which are not technically streamlined for efficiency, but rather which are cost-effective and designed in such a way that they can be placed in backyards and on roofs without excessive effort to obtain permission and which ideally make economic feasibility studies almost irrelevant. This makes wind energy interesting to everyone.

Hardly any topic today is as hot as renewable energy and its expansion to cover more area as quickly as possible to ensure energy supply independence from other countries and the fight against climate change. The turbulence around wind is also giving a lift to beventum GmbH, a subsidiary of SPRIND.

The starting point for its founding in December 2020 was the decades of work on a high-wind plant carried out by Horst Bendix, originally from Leipzig, who had been the technology and research director of Leipzig heavy machinery producer Kirow for many years, as well as being a university professor, engineering consultant, enthusiastic mechanical engineer and inventor. With a total of 60 innovations and further developments in the field of material handling technology and heavy machine production, he was successful in international competitions and launched his most beloved project at SPRIND with his submission.

Aiming High

The higher wind turbines are, the more efficiently they work, as wind at higher altitudes is considerably more consistent and blows more forcefully. Why are they not just being built higher up? Initiated by Horst Bendix, the beventum team—which has grown to more than 10 employees—has since been occupying itself with this question. Essentially, the answer is that no-one has dared to try. That is, until now. In the meantime, beventum has validated three highly promising designs and now wants to attempt to build the world’s first high-wind turbine.

The young company is currently seeking out partners who can erect the more than 350-meter-high prototype.

The additional wind at higher altitudes reduces power generation costs in comparison to conventional wind turbines in comparable wind zones, making the greater construction expense more than worthwhile. The vision is to integrate these high-wind turbines—which are around twice as big as previous wind turbines—as a second storey in existing wind parks. In addition, high-wind turbines can (and must) become the most innovative, economical and fastest solution for the reorientation of former lignite districts. Both the current districts in Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as the former ones in Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg, can very realistically become wind energybased innovation and production regions in this way, and some have already expressed their interest in beventum. The demand for regional and sustainable power will also strongly increase for the production of “green hydrogen” as planned by the federal government.

beventum is not just aiming high, though, as it has other pioneering goals as well. It wants no less than to solve the location problem for wind power plants on land. This is why the employees are developing medium-height plants as their second focal point, which can be installed straightforwardly in spaces which are already in use, such as industrial parks. Here as well, the conventional wind turbine is being fully redesigned. At around 70,000 industrial parks in Germany alone, there is a roughly estimated installable capacity on the order of multiple power plants which could be directly fed to consumers for their own self-supply.

Another component of the wind energy transition is small plants for single-family homes and apartment buildings. These are radically redesigned plants with a drive at the bottom and rotating tower designed as slow-runners with 6 to 12 rotor blades, making them much quieter than previous three- to five-meter-tall plants. Simple and installable with little effort, the mini-wind turbine opens up previously unexploited roof space and optimizes energy generation for self-suppliers.

AN AMBITIOUS GOAL: DOUBLING THE AMOUNT OF ENERGY FROM WIND POWER

The main interest of beventum is to design construction to be as straightforward and regional as possible so that as many companies as possible can build their wind turbines and the supply of wind energy in Germany, the rest of Europe and, in the best-case scenario, the whole world can finally pick up speed. As a SPRIND subsidiary, beventum would like to double the energy produced from wind in Germany, which is why it is breaking new, courageous ground and risking failure in the process, but not without kicking up dust and living up to its name “bene vento” in the process, good wind.