The paper shows novel technologies for heat and power generation for residential and industrial end users. The paper is focused on micro gas turbines of about 100 kWe and shows their profitability in the Italian scenario, making use of thermoeconomic methodologies. The paper explores different options that make use of biomass and natural gas in dual fuel arrangements. The possibility to set up combined cycle schemes by coupling the micro gas turbine to a bottoming organic Rankine cycle is also examined. The work is the basis of the research project “CLEVER” submitted to the European Union within the program Horizon 2020.

A renewed interest on Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) arose from their ability to be effectively integrated within urban contests in the spirit of distributed generation. In order to improve their performance, a deeper comprehension of their fluid dynamic behavior is necessary. In the last years, at Politecnico di Bari a great effort has been addressed toward the numerical and experimental investigation of both lift- and drag-driven VAWTs. In particular, constant temperature hot wire anemometry (CTA) is used for the evaluation of the unsteady flow field downstream the VAWT prototypes tested in the subsonic closed-loop wind tunnel of the Politecnico di Bari, whilst, torque measurements are obtained directly from the servo amplifier monitor. Furthermore, by means of CFD analysis, a deep insight into the complex fluid-dynamics of the VAWTs has been obtained. All the acquired experience ended in the development of an innovative lift-driven VAWT prototype currently under investigation