The Princess Elisabeth Station has been officially inaugurated in Antarctica on February 15th, 2009.

This station is the only polar base operating entirely on renewable energies. It has eight wind turbines from Proven Energy.

It marks a major change, as most stations rely on diesel generators – because no wind turbines, until now, were thought to be robust enough for such extreme conditions. The turbines will endure the most severe weather conditions on Earth.

They will be operating in average winds of 53 mph and winter gusts of over 200mph, while still providing 230V electricity for the stations heating, computers, lights and scientific instruments. The electricity generated is expected to be the highest output of any small wind power system in the world. (more…)