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- Category: Articles
Internet Services for Planning Distributed Generation Connections
How do you quickly evaluate the capacity of the distribution network to accept a new generation site? This article describes a software development project that provides information on the UK electrical distribution system and offers an initial assessment service for connection of generation plant. The information is presented on a map background and in automatically generated reports, and it is made available on a website.By Christine Barbier, Peter Reay and Victoria Gosling, Econnect Ltd, UK, and Dave Curry and Angela Morgan, Imass Ltd, UK
- Category: Articles
Intensified Cooperation Leads to Optimised Wind Turbines
The very large growth of wind turbines during the last 20 years has led to a significant increase in some component prices. The need to meet the strong pressures to deliver electricity from wind as cheaply as possible has resulted in a very close cooperation between turbine and blade developers. The generic blades of the past have almost totally disappeared. This article describes some of the resulting effects in terms of more efficient material use and the design criteria at the interface between blade and turbine design (which cannot be optimised from just one side). This design integration is essential for smaller or start-up turbine manufacturers in order to enable them to survive in a market that is more and more dominated by ‘all-in-one-house’ global players.By Roland Stoer, EUROS Entwicklungsgesellschaft für Windkraftanlagen mbH, Germany
- Category: Articles
The Future of Offshore Wind?
There is a pervasive notion that a turbine designed specifically for the marine environment will eventually supersede today’s less-than-perfect marriage of offshore oil drilling platform technology and traditional land-based wind turbines. New thinking points towards an offshore turbine that works with Nature, rather than against her. In this article, Douglas Selsam, building on the refinement of the horizontal axis rotor over the past 2,000 years, describes a new design that adds several of these highly refined rotors to the same driveshaft, for more power, higher rpm and less complexity.By Douglas Spriggs Selsam, President Selsam Innovations, USA
- Category: Articles
Modern Solutions for an Age-Old Problem
Since humans first went to the sea, we have experienced the problem of transferring people and materials between two heaving ships or between a heaving ship and the shore. With the many upcoming offshore wind farms this is still a topical subject. In this article, different solutions for this age-old problem are described and analysed.By René Lok, Contributing Editor, Windtech International
- Category: Articles
A Case Study in the Nordic Countries
The drawbacks of wind power from the power system point of view are its variability and unpredictability. However, these problems are greatly reduced when wind power is connected to larger power systems as these can take advantage of the natural diversity in variable sources. A large geographical spread of wind power will reduce variability, increase predictability and decrease the occasions with near zero or peak output. In this article, the situation in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) is described.
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By Hannele Holttinen, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
- Category: Articles
New Procedure for Fault Ride-Through Testing and Certification
In recent years, the amount of energy produced by wind energy converters (WECs) has increased greatly, meaning that grid operators now have to focus on the power generation characteristics of WECs. In 2003, the German grid operator E.ON provided the first guidelines that stated new requirements on the power generation characteristics of WECs. These could not be fulfilled with the existing technology over the full range. The German research institute FGH decided to establish an accredited product certification body in accordance with the European standard EN 45011; this body certifies the conformity of power generation characteristics of WECs with the guidelines of grid operators.By Volker Pitz and Karl-Heinz Weck, Forschungsgemeinschaft für Elektrische Anlagen und Stromwirtschaft (FGH) e.V., Germany
- Category: Articles
The Research and Engineering Involved in Confidently Achieving 70m Monitoring
As the height of wind turbines continues to soar, it has become increasingly necessary to achieve ‘bankable data’ from wind monitoring sensors at higher levels. Potential wind development sites are often remote, so monitoring masts need to be easily transported, lightweight and possible to construct with minimal effort. For masts in excess of 60m to survive extreme conditions, the tower sections must have greater strength without excessively compromising the mast weight. In this article, Geoff Watson of Western Windpower describes the development programme for the company’s new 70m HiMast.
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As the height of wind turbines continues to soar, it has become increasingly necessary to achieve ‘bankable data’ from wind monitoring sensors at higher levels. Potential wind development sites are often remote, so monitoring masts need to be easily transported, lightweight and possible to construct with minimal effort. For masts in excess of 60m to survive extreme conditions, the tower sections must have greater strength without excessively compromising the mast weight. In this article, Geoff Watson of Western Windpower describes the development programme for the company’s new 70m HiMast.By Dr Geoff Watson, Business Manager, Western Windpower Ltd, UK
