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- Category: Articles
ZephIR Minimises Risk for NaiKun's Offshore Wind Farm Development
ZephIR has now been used as the sole on-site resource assessment tool for the Hecate Strait wind farm project for 12 months. This article reflects on the pioneering approach taken by NaiKun Wind Development Inc and the results delivered by ZephIR to date.- Category: Articles
Endurance Calculations for Bearings
Practical experience has shown that seemingly identical rolling bearings operating under identical conditions will not necessarily exhibit the same endurance life. Standardised life calculation methods can help us make educated choices about a bearing size's suitability for a particular application.- Category: Articles
Regional Market Integration as an Opportunity for Wind Energy
The development of the European internal electricity market is essential for an efficient integration of wind energy into the power system. The deregulation process was firstly characterised mainly by the opening of national markets. Lately, the emergence of supranational, regional power markets adds a truly European dimension by enabling flexible power trade over borders. Requirements for a market design that leads to an economically efficient integration of wind power on a continental scale are currently being investigated within the European TradeWind project. International markets allow the aggregation of widely distributed wind farms into flexible portfolios of supply and demand. Consequently, a good design of international power markets is essential for an efficient integration of wind energy into the power system.- Category: Articles
An EC FP7 Programme Mapping the North, Irish And Baltic Seas
NORSEWInD is an exciting new four-year programme that started on 1 August 2008. The general scope of the project is to create a wind speed database and associated wind atlas suitable for offshore wind farm development for the North, Irish and Baltic Seas.- Category: Articles
An Analysis of Data from the Triton Sonic Wind Profiler
The met mast is dead. Long live sodar! While it is early to make this statement emphatically, data from field tests indicates that a new generation of sodar technology is poised to replace meteorological masts for many assessment applications. This article reports on data from customers using Second Wind's Triton® sonic wind profiler in eight diverse locations. The findings show reliable reporting of valid wind data at heights that encompass the full blade sweep of commercial wind turbines. Gross data recovery was above 95%, correlation to anemometry at 60 metres was 0.97, and signal-to-noise ratios were greater than 9 at heights up to 160 metres.- Category: Articles
Can the Grid Deliver?
Recent years have seen significant reductions in the commercial viability of UK wind farm development as a consequence of factors such as limited availability of turbines, increases in metal prices, reduced availability of skilled support for construction operations and grid access constraints. Despite this, the excellent wind resource and shallow waters around the UK ensure that offshore development is seen by government and the renewables industry as the most significant opportunity to realise very ambitious renewable energy targets and aspirations.- Category: Articles
An Efficient Grid Interface for Permanent Magnet Generators Using Series Compensation
Nowadays, power electronics is an essential technology for enabling variable speed operation of wind turbines with increased energy capture and reduced mechanical stress. The commonly used doubly-fed induction generator only needs a small rated converter to enable variable speed operation and has a correspondingly low cost. On the other hand, permanent magnet (PM) generators have advantages such as no slip rings, high efficiency and the possibility of gearless operation. Their drawback is the need for a large power electronics converter, as the full power must be converted into voltage of fixed frequency suitable for the connection to the grid. This drawback motivates the search for new configurations with reduced losses, costs and space requirements. In this article, a new configuration using a variable series capacitor is investigated. The configuration shows simple control, low losses and a reduced need for semiconductor rating, and thus contributes to the technology shift towards permanent magnet generator solutions.
