Venture serves to help develop next generation of wind turbines The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Gamesa Technology Corp., Inc. will study and test a variety of components and systems that will guide development of the next generation of wind turbines designed specifically for the U.S. marketplace. The public-private partnership [...]

The amount of Energy produced by the turbines of a wind farm depends not only on wind speed, but also on the stability of atmospheric conditions Two US researchers, Sonia Wharton from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (California) and Julie Lundquist from the University of Colorado, have found that, with equal wind speed, stable atmospheric [...]

A list of recent significant developments in distributed wind technology (DWT) systems less than 20 kW include the following: Alternative power and load control strategies: Furling inherently increases sound levels because the cross-wind operation creates a helicopter-type chopping noise. Aerodynamic models available today cannot accurately predict the rotor loads in the highly skewed and unsteady [...]

The Department of Energy (DOE) today announced two new online tools to assist state and local policymakers, consumers, and stakeholders in evaluating siting and policy issues to help accelerate the use of distributed wind energy systems – such as wind turbines installed at a homes and businesses. DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy [...]

Wine Power Industry will be pushing for PTC extension, expanding reach and holding costs steady A big year is in store for the wind power industry in 2012, both in the policy arena and out in the field. With the Production Tax Credit (PTC), wind power’s key policy incentive, set to expire at the end [...]

Wind energy has begun to lead the way in renewable energy solutions.  Manufacturers of wind turbines face challenges such as reducing downtimes and maintenance work.  Some of the demands placed on turbine components include extreme temperature conditions, vibration, oscillation and aggressive offshore air composition. Keeping wind turbines safely operating is becoming increasingly important as more [...]

  The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has recently announced the release of a DOE-funded report to help better integrate wind energy into the electrical grid. The report, entitled Strategies and Decision Support Systems for Integrating Variable Energy Resources in Control Centers for Reliable Grid Operations: Global Best Practices, Examples of Excellence and Lessons Learned, [...]