The jury on the Stars of Science reality TV show proved that the “Shattel-Power” vertical wind turbine is not as efficient as its designer Mahmoud Shattel proclaimed it to be, but the 24 year old electrical engineer from Jordan still intends to find investors who will help him bring this clean energy concept to households all over the Hashemite kingdom.
Shattel’s vertical wind turbine was designed to generate electrical power from the wind at four times the efficiency rate of standard wind turbines, and to harvest energy from low wind speeds. And it’s only one meter high.
When Shattel’s was studying electrical engineering at Jordan’s Hashemite University, he worked on developing unmanned planes. He made three prototypes, two of which crashed, but he was not able to attract investors. This failure inspired him to take stock of his intentions.
“After this project, I thought about why I did not succeed in commercializing it and realized that although I was passionate about it, other people are not passionate about remote-controlled airplanes because they don’t need them,” Shattel told Green Prophet.
“The next step for me was to make a list of the top 10 problems people need a better solution for.”
This is when he realized that energy, especially in Jordan, is one of the most pressing issues of the day, and so began his journey to explore renewables in particular.
“Wind turbines suffer from low efficiency at low wind speeds,” Shattel explained, “so that guided me to conduct deeper research on wind turbines and enabled me to develop two inventions, both of which are vertical wind turbines.”
While he was watching the third season of Stars of Science last year, Shattel decided this would be the perfect venue for him to both prove and then hopefully develop his concept, which he says can produce 2-4 times more wind energy than conventional wind turbines.
Only 16 applicants from eight Arab world countries are hand-picked to participate in the Qatar-funded TV show, after which they endure a series of steps during which they are expected to prove the feasibility and necessity of their innovations.
Shattel was one of ten contestants to proceed to the Engineering round, but it was here that the jury proved the design’s imperfection.
“Mahmoud Shattel was baffled with his own calculations as the jury used it against him to prove that his efficient vertical wind turbine was not as efficient as he claimed it to be,” according to the episode summary.
Shattel was not selected to proceed to the next round of the Arab world reality TV show competition, but he has returned to Jordan as determined as ever to bring his concept to fruition.
“When I returned to Jordan, I started preparing for the next stage: commercializing the technology. I established a start-up company called Taqetna (Arabic word means: Our Energy),” he says.
“Then I will develop products and install pilot projects in different areas of Jordan, but I will need investors so that I can build a factory to mass-produce the wind turbine.”
Jordan imports almost all of its energy, making the kingdom one of the least energy secure in the world, but wind turbines are typically too expensive for the average family, Shattel’s target market, to afford.
“That was of the most important challenges I solved, he says, “the price will be accessible and competive for Jordanians as well as for exporting out of Jordan.”
“But the price is not the main competive advantage we offer to Jordanians; the quality and high efficiency machine are also important advantages that Taqetna will offer.”
All images courtesy of Stars of Science
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
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