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- Category: Articles
Highlights from the 2010 Wind Energy Buy-Chain Survey
In the midst of difficult economic conditions, the US wind power industry faced significant difficulties in 2010. Installations were hindered by factors such as ongoing challenges in securing project financing, low natural gas prices favouring gas-fired generation, and decreased electricity demand caused by the recession. In total, the USA added 5,115MW of wind capacity in 2010, about half the total of installations added in the previous year (American Wind Energy Association). Such a rapid drop in one year, especially following a stretch of 39% compound annual growth over the previous five years, would shake many industries to their core. What are US wind industry manufacturers and service companies looking for now?
By Tim Kumbier, Loch McCabe and Terri Schroeder, Shepherd Advisors, USA
In the midst of difficult economic conditions, the US wind power industry faced significant difficulties in 2010. Installations were hindered by factors such as ongoing challenges in securing project financing, low natural gas prices favouring gas-fired generation, and decreased electricity demand caused by the recession. In total, the USA added 5,115MW of wind capacity in 2010, about half the total of installations added in the previous year (American Wind Energy Association). Such a rapid drop in one year, especially following a stretch of 39% compound annual growth over the previous five years, would shake many industries to their core. What are US wind industry manufacturers and service companies looking for now?
By Tim Kumbier, Loch McCabe and Terri Schroeder, Shepherd Advisors, USA
- Category: Articles
Structural Solutions to Save Weight in Future Blades
Recent work at Risø DTU on wind turbine blades has shown that more failure mechanisms need to be taken into account than just the classical ones such as buckling, material failure, etc. An example of one of the failure modes, which is not part of a certification process, is the non-linear out-of-plane deformation of the load-carrying cap laminate, which introduces interlaminar shear stresses in the load-carrying laminate. This could be the reason for some of the failures in today’s wind turbine blades. This failure mechanism is taken into account in the design of a new, innovative 40m load-carrying box girder presented in this article.
By Find M. Jensen, Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, Denmark
Recent work at Risø DTU on wind turbine blades has shown that more failure mechanisms need to be taken into account than just the classical ones such as buckling, material failure, etc. An example of one of the failure modes, which is not part of a certification process, is the non-linear out-of-plane deformation of the load-carrying cap laminate, which introduces interlaminar shear stresses in the load-carrying laminate. This could be the reason for some of the failures in today’s wind turbine blades. This failure mechanism is taken into account in the design of a new, innovative 40m load-carrying box girder presented in this article.By Find M. Jensen, Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, Denmark
- Category: Articles
Results of a Patent Landscaping Exercise
To understand the future technology trends in the wind turbine industry it is necessary to gain a historical perspective on the emergence of current trends. Analysis of patent protected innovations in the wind turbine industry can be a powerful indicator of these historical trends. While much anecdotal discussion has taken place on the wind industry patent landscape, a definitive look at that landscape has never been made publicly available, until now. The study methodology will be discussed and the results of the analysis will be shown in several charts. The results indicate that, historically, wind turbine innovation has been directed towards blades, generators and electrical systems because these three areas have been the most problematic for manufacturers when it comes to component reliability. Future technology is most likely to be directed towards improving controls and utilising advanced materials to address the emerging challenges and to eke out every last ounce of performance from the turbines.
By Philip Totaro, Principal, IntelStor, USA
To understand the future technology trends in the wind turbine industry it is necessary to gain a historical perspective on the emergence of current trends. Analysis of patent protected innovations in the wind turbine industry can be a powerful indicator of these historical trends. While much anecdotal discussion has taken place on the wind industry patent landscape, a definitive look at that landscape has never been made publicly available, until now. The study methodology will be discussed and the results of the analysis will be shown in several charts. The results indicate that, historically, wind turbine innovation has been directed towards blades, generators and electrical systems because these three areas have been the most problematic for manufacturers when it comes to component reliability. Future technology is most likely to be directed towards improving controls and utilising advanced materials to address the emerging challenges and to eke out every last ounce of performance from the turbines.
By Philip Totaro, Principal, IntelStor, USA
- Category: Articles
Using Tethered Aircraft to Harvest the Stronger Winds at 400 Metres
Airborne wind energy is a new development in the wind industry. While the regular wind turbine industry is now a mature industry, electricity produced by wind turbines is still not competitive with that produced from fossil fuels. The main problems are the large initial investment associated with the purchase of the wind turbine, and the low capacity factor. The high cost of a wind turbine is caused by the large amount of steel, composites, copper and concrete required for the construction. The low capacity factor is caused by the limited wind resource at 100 metres altitude. Airborne wind energy has the potential to generate power at lower cost and with a higher capacity factor.
By Bas Lansdorp, General Director, Ampyx Power, The Netherlands
Airborne wind energy is a new development in the wind industry. While the regular wind turbine industry is now a mature industry, electricity produced by wind turbines is still not competitive with that produced from fossil fuels. The main problems are the large initial investment associated with the purchase of the wind turbine, and the low capacity factor. The high cost of a wind turbine is caused by the large amount of steel, composites, copper and concrete required for the construction. The low capacity factor is caused by the limited wind resource at 100 metres altitude. Airborne wind energy has the potential to generate power at lower cost and with a higher capacity factor.By Bas Lansdorp, General Director, Ampyx Power, The Netherlands
- Category: Articles
Designing Electricity Markets with Large Shares of Wind Power
Wind power generation has increased rapidly in the USA over the last few years, and at the end of 2010 there was more than 40,000MW of installed capacity at a national level. Wind power is already having a significant impact on the operation of electricity markets and power systems in areas with high penetration of wind power, such as in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and the Midwest ISO (MISO). A number of challenges arise when integrating wind power into the power system, from transmission planning, resource adequacy and interconnection standards, to dealing with the increased uncertainty and variability in short-term operations.
By Audun Botterud and Jianhui Wang, Decision and Information Sciences Division, Argonne National Laboratory, USA, and Ricardo J. Bessa and Vladimiro Miranda, INESC Porto LA and Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, Portugal
Wind power generation has increased rapidly in the USA over the last few years, and at the end of 2010 there was more than 40,000MW of installed capacity at a national level. Wind power is already having a significant impact on the operation of electricity markets and power systems in areas with high penetration of wind power, such as in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and the Midwest ISO (MISO). A number of challenges arise when integrating wind power into the power system, from transmission planning, resource adequacy and interconnection standards, to dealing with the increased uncertainty and variability in short-term operations.By Audun Botterud and Jianhui Wang, Decision and Information Sciences Division, Argonne National Laboratory, USA, and Ricardo J. Bessa and Vladimiro Miranda, INESC Porto LA and Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, Portugal
- Category: Articles
A Constant Response to the Grid Code Jungle
With an ever greater share of electricity produced by wind power, the behaviour of wind turbines during grid faults is of critical importance. An increasing number of international grid code specifications require wind turbines to be able to ride through all types of grid faults. Fault ride-through capabilities have come as a result of the large increase in installed wind capacity that feeds into transmission systems, making it necessary for wind generation to stay operational in the event of a network fault. The ultimate objective is to have a wind turbine behave like a conventional power plant. In this article, Lasse Kankainen from The Switch discusses grid codes and fault ride-through requirements in general, and the testing of the company’s full-power converter (FPC) technology.
By Lasse Kankainen, R&D Engineer, The Switch, Finland
With an ever greater share of electricity produced by wind power, the behaviour of wind turbines during grid faults is of critical importance. An increasing number of international grid code specifications require wind turbines to be able to ride through all types of grid faults. Fault ride-through capabilities have come as a result of the large increase in installed wind capacity that feeds into transmission systems, making it necessary for wind generation to stay operational in the event of a network fault. The ultimate objective is to have a wind turbine behave like a conventional power plant. In this article, Lasse Kankainen from The Switch discusses grid codes and fault ride-through requirements in general, and the testing of the company’s full-power converter (FPC) technology.
By Lasse Kankainen, R&D Engineer, The Switch, Finland
- Category: Articles
A New Approach to Deicing Wind Turbines from Base to Blade Tip
When icing brings down a grandmother, a power line or a plane, nobody wants to talk about it because it’s always somebody’s fault. The same is true when icing slows or shuts down a wind turbine. At least no one gets hurt physically, but it still costs lots of money. There is a cold little secret in the world of wind power; turbine blade icing is a problem. I’m new around here, so my evidence is anecdotal. His clues are described in the article in our January/February 2011 issue on page 6.
By Cliff Lyon, Director Corporate Development, IceCode LLC, USA
When icing brings down a grandmother, a power line or a plane, nobody wants to talk about it because it’s always somebody’s fault. The same is true when icing slows or shuts down a wind turbine. At least no one gets hurt physically, but it still costs lots of money. There is a cold little secret in the world of wind power; turbine blade icing is a problem. I’m new around here, so my evidence is anecdotal. His clues are described in the article in our January/February 2011 issue on page 6.By Cliff Lyon, Director Corporate Development, IceCode LLC, USA
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