An Australian company’s alternative wind-turbine design has 30 blades instead of the traditional three – but, ironically, it’s much quieter than the typical noisy rotors. At least, that’s the claim made by Renewable Energy Solutions Australia, the manufacturer of the Eco Whisper turbine.

The company said the turbine is “virtually silent,” thanks to its unique design, in which the 30 blades are angled outward from the hub, and surrounded at their ends by a ring. This ring, the company says, “prevents air ‘spilling’ off the tip of the blades,” the source of much of the noise that traditional turbines produce. The company also lists greater efficiency and lower start-up speeds as advantages compared to competitors.

With a wind-generating capacity pegged at 20 kilowatts (kW), the Eco Whisper isn’t on a scale with the giant 1.6-megawatt (and larger) turbines you see at wind farms, but it is a lot bigger than many of the vertical-axis turbines we see, like those from Urban Green Energy that top out around 1 kW. The Eco Whisper stands on a pole about 70 feet tall and has a blade diameter of around 20 feet.

The Eco Whisperer was recently unveiled in Geelong, Victoria, according to Azocleantech.com, and the company is ready to go to market with the device, aiming to sell it for use at commercial, manufacturing and industrial sites; urban sites such as schools and shopping centers; and remote sites, especially as an alternative to diesel-power generation. Here’s a video, provided by the company of the Eco Whisper in action: