The Netherlands has a high potential for using wind turbine generators (WTGs) to produce electricity. Unfortunately, the Netherlands also has a chronic lack of free, open spaces and the major problem is finding suitable locations to erect these symbols of Dutch ingenuity. Where in the Netherlands are locations to be found to accommodate the large, multi-megawatt wind generators while taking into consideration the environment, the neighbourhood and the neighbours? WinWind (Netherlands) has come up with a unique answer, the Railwind turbine.

Is computational fluid dynamics (CFD) the preserve of the major wind energy providers? The ability to test full-scale prototypes and evaluate potential wind farm locations should make computer simulation an invaluable tool for all players in the wind energy industry, but has CFD overcome limitations of speed, accuracy and cost? A CFD consultancy firm born out of the Formula 1 racing environment seeks to provide some answers.

Typhoons can cause significant damage to wind turbines, and this brings new problems for wind turbine design, especially the design of blades. This article describes what happened at a wind farm that suffered typhoon damage and a stop in operation of the wind turbines. The author undertook analysis of the available data and provides a discussion about the phenomena of the accident, the cause of the accident and the protective measures. As a result, the article brings forward some issues that fellow designers need to consider.

The evolution of wind farms from land-based to offshore locations is gradual but surely significant. Stronger winds, better technologies and less impact on real estate value make offshore wind farming the ‘sexiest’ side of this industry in its attempts to meet the high electricity demands of heavily populated coastal areas.

In the next few years, there are plans to connect a variety of ambitious offshore wind projects to the European grids. In addition to new grid connection lines and grid reinforcement measures it is expected that additional measures for overall system operation will be required because of the intermittent nature of wind generation. In the short term, on timescales from less than a second to several hours, a variety of balancing services are necessary in order to maintain stable system operation. In the long term, wind generation can provide only limited contributions to guaranteed system capacities (e.g. in the event of peak demand). In this article, these aspects are addressed comprehensively when analysing the economics of large-scale intermittent wind generation. An approach is presented to estimate the additional system-related cost elements for different wind penetrations in a system.

By Hans Auer, Vienna University of Technology, Austria