Peter Hill

Renewable Energy Generation

Growing up in Perth, the eldest of four boys, James has always been an avid reader and had a strong interest in practical application of science.

In 2008, during Year 8 of high school at Leeming Senior High School, he developed a strong interest for renewable energy and set about trying to power his bedroom off of homebuilt energy systems. Thanks to the encouragement of one of his science teachers and his grandad, James designed and built a number of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) using everyday materials such as plywood, pvc pipes and rewound car alternators.

Originally experimenting with drag-based vertical axis wind turbines, James joined a number of internet forums and began researching the aerodynamic concepts behind more powerful and efficient lift-based wind turbines. After building a lift-based wind turbine from extruded PVC blades (seen at the bottom of image 1), he designed and built a hybrid aerofoil that operated on a drag-basis at low speed and then a lift-basis at high speed.

The prototype of this design (seen above the full-lift blades) earnt James a Merit Award at the 2008 WA Inventor of the Year competition and an invite to the Governor's Science Forum and Brilliant West Week Dialogue with Youth events.

The soldering of kit-built bridge rectifiers, working out the wiring and battery systems and working with the AC & DC motors/generators provided James with a decent level of practical understanding of electrical systems and inspiration by a neighbour to enter into the Perth eV Challenge led to the next chapter of extra-curricular "engineering", working out how to efficient deploy electrical energy rather than generate it.