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.

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

The UK government now has ambitious targets for the overall contribution of renewable energy to the UK’s energy budget. These higher targets have resulted in an increase in applications for onshore and offshore renewable energy developments. In the UK, many of the renewable resources with the most potential are at their greatest in Scotland. This has of course created some conflict, in particular with respect to wind generation, because of Scotland’s remote habitats and the species of conservation concern, including key bird species, that use these areas. Therefore, developers and statutory bodies have been pressed to seek state of the art assessment methods for accurately gauging potential environmental impacts.

Their Use in Key Areas of Turbine Operation

In order to achieve their design potential as credible alternative providers of energy, wind turbine systems have to employ highly efficient, reliable and robust components. Among the most important of these components are gearboxes; in particular, planetary gearboxes. One of the manufacturers of planetary gearboxes is Brevini. This article describes the company’s activities within this field.

Targets and Benefits