133321Feasibility of modular wind turbine micro-factories for remote & developing world sitesClosedFeasibility StudiesInnovate UKSpinetic Energy Ltd is undertaking a radical re-engineering of wind harvesting technology, creating a panellised, modular, linkable system, designed to be as installable and cost effective as solar PV. Spinetic's "Wind Panels" will be deployable at community scale without use of cranes or other heavy equipment. Being modular, human-portable on site, and installable without specialist labour, Wind Panels are ideal for providing low cost renewable power at remote/developing world deployments. The Wind Panel design is inherently suitable for mass-production, but many of its production processes are, in principle, also amenable to manual production using relatively low-skilled labour, and without heavy industrial or high power equipment. This could make Wind Panels manufacturable on-site in remote/developing world locations, using locally sourced materials, thus significantly reducing embedded energy, and providing local employment and repair/maintenance capability. This project will examine the feasibility of designing Wind Panel components and manufacturing processes suitable for production of modular, containerised "micro-factories" for Wind Panel construction, maintenance and end-of-life re-working for other uses, e.g. in housing/irrigation projects.