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- Category: Articles
Weather Patterns in the USA during 2015
So far, the year 2015 has undoubtedly been one of challenge for many US wind project operators. In terms of performance, the first quarter was one of the lowest on record for large portions of the country with some areas seeing wind speeds up to 50% below average.
By Dr Jim McCaa, Manager of Advanced Applications, Vaisala, USA
- Category: Articles
Doing Without Blades
Vortex Bladeless is a technology that uses the vortex effect. Basically, Vortex Bladeless consists of a conical cylinder fixed vertically on an elastic rod. The cylinder oscillates in the wind, which then generates electricity through a linear alternator’s system.
By David J. Yáñez Villarreal, David Suriol Puigvert and Raúl Martín Yunta, Vortex Bladeless, Spain
- Category: Articles
A Revolutionary Idea for Energy Storage
In order to address the problem of global climate change, a number of measures are needed. Apart from saving energy, electricity increasingly needs to be produced using renewable sources. The European Commission’s energy road map for 2050 states that 55% of the total amount of electricity produced in 2050 should come from renewable sources. The Dutch government has an even more ambitious goal (national energy agreement) and wants to have a climate-neutral energy supply by 2050. In order to reach these targets, a lot of renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind, must be installed in the next few years and this will lead to an increasing proportion of intermittent power. This will mean that imbalances between the supply and demand for electricity are likely to become more common.
By Wouter Engels, ECN, The Netherlands
- Category: Articles
Modifying Electrical Architecture to Maximise Wind Farm Production
As wind energy seeks to become cost-competitive with traditional forms of generation, developers and operators in the maturing European onshore market continue to look for ways to optimise project performance and bring down long-term costs. While there are many ways to boost the efficiency of operational portfolios, arguably the most effective way to make cost reductions is to return to the drawing board and explore how subtle design modifications based on operational experience can influence the long-term performance of a project before it is constructed.
By Thomas Blondot, Construction Project Manager, and Carla Vico, Operations Director, Greensolver, France
- Category: Articles
Using Hydrogen and Ammonia Fuels via Underground Pipelines
Humanity's greatest challenge at present is converting the world's largest industry from around 85% fossil to 100% renewable energy (RE) sources as quickly as we prudently and profitably can. Nothing less will allow us to escape the likely synergistic consequences of large-scale fossil fuel combustion, including rapid climate change and global warming, accelerating sea-level rise, ocean acidification, species extinctions and violent human conflicts. Although large amounts of RE could be produced, existing electricity grids are not capable of transmitting this energy to where it is needed. The author argues that rather than just extending electricity grids it would be worth looking at alternatives (such as hydrogen and ammonia carried via underground pipelines) for storage and transmission of RE.
By Bill Leighty, The Leighty Foundation, Juneau, Alaska, USA
- Category: Articles
Supporting Wind Turbines Cost-effectively at Hub Heights of over 80 Metres
Wind energy production at the utility scale has commonly been limited to an 80-metre tall hub height in the USA and elsewhere. Strangely enough, this limitation comes from transportation constraints and how the 80-metre-tall steel tubular towers are manufactured and transported. If transportation always controlled how tall we build our infrastructures, urban cities around the world would look completely different today. Transportation capabilities by no means should constraint the evolution of structures; otherwise, the kilometre-plus-high Kingdom Tower under construction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, could only be a dream. It is no surprise that studies have shown that as wind turbine towers get taller, a concrete solution may become more cost-effective than the steel tubular option. So, why are we not routinely building concrete towers to reach taller hub heights? How do we get there?
By Sri Sritharan, Wilson Engineering Professor, Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, Iowa State University, USA
- Category: Articles
Challenges and Solutions for Wind Turbines
Rotor blades in wind turbines are growing longer – but also slower. Multi-megawatt wind turbines will turn even more slowly, so reproducible low-frequency vibration monitoring will gain in importance not only for the main rotor but also for the slow-operating gearbox components and roller bearings. Reliably measuring low frequencies, however, can be rather tricky. This article discusses some of the issues that pose new challenges to sensor and measurement hardware manufacturers and some possible solutions.
By Dr Edwin Becker, Pruftechnik Condition Monitoring GmbH, Germany
