Turbines will spin 50% of the time

The Bahrain World Trade Center’s (BWTC) iconic wind turbines will spin 50% of the time once the building is fully occupied, it was announced.

A new statement released by executives last week also said that the turbines have been officially certified by the government's Electricity Distribution Directorate (EDD).

Currently only a quarter of the project is occupied by tenants, but it is expected to be fully occupied by the middle of the year, said Peter Longstaff, BWTC's project manager. "At this time, the power demand will increase and the turbines will spin approximately 50% of the time," he said.

At this stage the EDD does not allow renewable energy technologies to feed power back into the national grid. This limits the productivity of the turbines to only the power demand of the building.

Last month Longstaff told Construction Week there was a public misconception that the turbines don't work because they are rarely seen turning.

The three turbines, each 29m in diameter, will only operate when there is sufficient demand for energy within the building coupled with the correct wind conditions, he said.

The statement revealed that because the turbines have been officially certified they have been switched to auto-mode.

When in auto-mode, wind detectors on each of the three turbines will automatically sense the correct wind conditions - namely a northerly wind between 4m/s to 19m/s.

Auto-mode will also automatically detect the demand for power in the building.

The turbines are expected to provide between 11% to 15% of the project's annual energy needs.

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