Which produces greater amount of power, vertical-axis wind generator or horizontal-axis wind generator?

Question

Which produces greater amount of power, vertical-axis wind generator or horizontal-axis wind generator?

Answer 1

The direction of the axis isn't the sole determinant of power, however it does tend to correlate.

Vertical axis generators (the things that look like () shapes on sticks) tend to be smaller and used where there isn't as much space, while horizontal axis windmills are more often seen on huge spars with very large blades out in the middle of nowhere.  So a horizontal axis generator is more likely to be a bigger one, and therefore generate more power.

I suspect that the vertical axis generators also have scaling issues that prevent them from being as effective at large size, such as the fact that wind speeds vary with height above the ground.