BroadStar, an engineering and technology firm specialising in wind power generation, is pursuing its first beta test sites with interested customers in Europe.

The turbine uses horizontal blades arranged in a rotating cylindrical structure, which can be placed on buildings or to infill existing wind farms. According to the company, with its parallel rotor blades giving it the appearance of a water wheel, not only does AeroCam look radically different from traditional windmill-like designs, but also it is more aerodynamically smaller and more compact. This means it can be manufactured, transported, installed and maintained at lower cost.

The main "technical innovation" in the AeroCam design, according to BroadStar, is its ability to continually adjust the pitch of its rotor blades to an optimum angle as the turbine rotates. This pitch control capability helps optimise its aerodynamic performance. The result is a wind turbine that can handle a wide range of wind velocities, anywhere between 4 and 80 mph (6-130km/h).

The AeroCam has a very low start-up speed, requiring a wind velocity of just 4 mph (6km/h), and it starts generating power at an unprecedented 5 mph (8km/h), a much lower wind speed than traditional wind turbines, shared the company.

"Our field trials and wind tunnel tests confirm that our new design has a higher power density than conventional wind turbines and the blades can be smaller without compromising aerodynamic efficiency," said Stephen Else, president, BroadStar Wind Systems.

"It can also harness its power in many more locations and generate energy close to where it's actually required," he said.