Abu Dhabi: An Emirati engineer has installed a wind turbine at his home and claims it works even when there is no wind.

Ali Hussain Al Obaidi, a former aircraft engineer, spent Dh100,000 to build the turbine in his backyard in Al Rahba in the capital.

He spent years researching wind turbines and visited countries like the US, Japan and Germany to understand how wind turbines could function successfully.

Emirati Ali Hussain Al Obaidi shows the unique wind turbine installed for his home.

Al Obaidi’s wind turbine is also innovative and unique as it is able to work and produce electricity with minimal to no wind at all, thanks to the use of solar power. By placing solar panels on the device, Al Obaidi, 61, has harnessed one of the most available resources in the UAE — sunlight. Solar energy powers the wind turbine which, in turn, produces electricity.

“I am a big supporter of clean energy and that’s what really motivated me to do this work. I believe that we as normal people can play our part to help reduce our carbon and energy footprint. We can’t just always rely on the government to come up with solutions and policies, we must take a proactive approach ourselves,” Al Obaidi said, explaining his passion.

“I did a lot of research before I started building my own wind turbine, and what I found out is that a lot of wind turbines stop working and do nothing if there is no wind, they just stand there looking like ghosts and so I wanted to build an innovative kind of wind turbine that would work 24 hours a day even if there isn’t a lot of wind or no wind at all, for that matter,” he added.

“My wind turbine is solar powered, I have placed solar panels on the device which collect the energy from the sunlight, which is then used to power the wind turbine machine. It can work 24 hours a day, and when it is switched off or when I am not using it, the device stores the energy it has produced which can then be used later,” he said.

According to Al Obaidi, the wind turbine is also self-chargeable, as the energy it produces goes back into its battery.

“It can basically charge itself, when the device is running it gives power back to the battery, and so that way it’s always recharging itself and making it a very efficient machine. It will always have power to work,” he said.

Al Obaidi said turbine powers lights and other appliances at his home.

“I do use the wind turbine for my home, the lights are powered by the wind turbine and so are other things like refrigerators. I also use the device to generate electricity for the backyard of the house, and so the lights in the garden and the air coolers are powered by the wind turbine.

“I can definitely say that I have saved money on my electricity costs. There has been a positive impact, and I think that looking at the bigger picture, this technology can be replicated and used not just for my home but also for many other homes. This technology can be large-scaled to power several homes together — it is doable,” he added.

Al Obaidi says he is proud of his achievement, but emphasised that he built his own wind turbine to serve as a positive example.

“For me personally, I did this as a way of giving something for the UAE and the world. Of course, I am proud that I managed to successfully build the wind turbine in my own home, but this isn’t about me but about the larger goal of moving towards using more efficient and greener energy resources.

“Climate change is a challenge all around the world, and so we must do things together to improve the environment because if the situation isn’t stopped or reversed, it will lead to negative results,” he added.