The Darrieus wind turbine is a type of vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) used to generate electricity from the energy carried in the wind. The turbine consists of a number of aerofoils usually--but not always--vertically mounted on a rotating shaft or framework. This design of wind turbine was patented by Georges Jean Marie Darrieus, a French aeronautical engineer in 1931.

The Darrieus type is theoretically just as efficient as the propeller type if wind speed is constant, but in practice this efficiency is rarely realised due to the physical stresses and limitations imposed by a practical design and wind speed variation. There are also major difficulties in protecting the Darrieus turbine from extreme wind conditions and in making it self-starting.

Vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) are a type of wind turbine where the main rotor shaft is set vertically. Among the advantages of this arrangement are that generators and gearboxes can be placed close to the ground, and that VAWTs do not need to be pointed into the wind. Major drawbacks for the early designs (Savonius, Darrieus, giromill and cycloturbine) included the pulsatory torque that can be produced during each revolution and the huge bending moments on the blades. Later designs solved the torque issue by using the helical twist of the blades almost similar to Gorlov's water turbines.

See also:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darrieus_wind_turbine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_axis_wind_turbine

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