The BRE Trust is offering guidance to engineers on the subject of positioning wind turbines for on-site renewable energy generation.
BRE Trust, the owner of BRE, has announced a new report, Building-Mounted Micro-Wind Turbines on High-Rise and Commercial Buildings, which provides guidance on the positioning of wind turbines on the roofs of tall buildings to maximise their potential for wind power generation.

UK government policy requires all future non-residential or mixed-use developments above 1,000m² will be expected to provide at least 10% of their energy requirements from on-site renewable energy generation. Wind energy produced from building-mounted wind turbines could be expected to provide a proportion of this renewable energy.

'There is an increasing trend to mount wind turbines on the roofs of tall buildings where they have the potential to generate useful levels of energy because of the advantages from increased wind resource at these heights, the reduced shelter and turbulence from surrounding buildings,' said Paul Blackmore, PhD, author of the report.

'However, without guidance, it is not easy for planners to determine the most effective locations for placing wind turbines. As a result, this potential renewable energy source is not always used most effectively and inappropriate placement can lead to an ineffective installation with severely limited power generation possibilities.'

This study, measured wind conditions made over the roofs of five buildings (at model scale) in the BRE wind tunnel, represents a range of typical high- and mid-rise buildings.

The mean-wind speed and turbulence intensity were measured at approximately 1,200 locations over each roof for a range of heights and wind directions. A primary objective of the study was to develop a simplified model which can be used by building owners and developers for siting micro-wind turbines on building roofs to optimise power generation.

Building-Mounted Micro-Wind Turbines on High-Rise and Commercial Buildings is available, priced £25 from BRE at 01344 328038, ref. FB 22.