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Latest Issue
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- Category: Windtech Future
Recently I have come across the development of a robotic device called BladeBug. It is a legged moving robot for maintenance work on wind turbine blades, specifically for offshore turbines. Suction caps stick to a body for which the robot is to do some work. Congratulations to the people involved in developing the device. There are a lot of challenges to overcome for any new development to achieve the expected capabilities.By Ahmad Hemami, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
- Category: Windtech Future
The progress made in the wind energy industry, demonstrated by the design of larger wind turbines to harness more energy from wind, is admirable. All aspects of manufacturing, installation and operation of these giant structures to deliver multimegawatt energy require lots of expertise, ingenuity, determination and hard work. Probably in the beginning no one would have thought of having turbines in the middle of water capturing wind energy, with no complaints about noise, view and other legitimate or illegitimate issues.By Ahmad Hemami, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
- Category: Windtech Future
In the 1980s, the three-bladed, fixed speed Danish wind turbine was the dominant model with a rated capacity of less than 200kW. Forty years later, wind turbine manufacturers are continually breaking the proverbial glass ceiling by launching turbines bigger than we would ever have imagined just a few decades ago. In May 2020, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy launched the biggest turbine ever announced, clocking in at 14MW and with a 222-metre rotor diameter for offshore wind farms. Just one of these turbines could generate enough electricity to power 18,000 European households every year.By Feng Zhao, Strategy Director at Global Wind Energy Council
- Category: Windtech Future
Wind energy has gone from being a niche to a mainstream energy source, providing 15% of the European Union’s electricity demand in 2019 and already becoming the third largest energy source in China. To speed up the global energy transition and to support major energy companies and oil and gas giants in meeting their carbon neutral target, the next step is not only to focus on new solutions that can support system integration, bringing more renewable generated electricity into the grid, but also to explore existing solutions like hydrogen that can work together with renewables to decarbonise sectors where direct electrification cannot easily be achieved.- Category: Windtech Future
Gearboxes are a critical component in a wind turbine, helping to convert rotational energy into electrical power to drive the energy transition across the world. According to the Global Wind Gearbox Supply Chain Update 2019 published by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) Market Intelligence service in December 2019, the market for the gearbox supply chain is set to grow as more wind turbines are installed in new markets for both onshore and offshore wind, and since more renewable energy systems must be installed to decarbonise the global energy system.By Feng Zhao, Strategy Director at Global Wind Energy Council
- Category: Windtech Future
The global offshore wind energy market appears poised for significant growth in the coming years, driven by demand as well as cost reductions in new technology. IntelStor has previously predicted a global offshore wind market of 355GW by 2050, up significantly from the current levels of ~49GW expected to be installed globally by the end of 2019.By Philip Totaro, Founder and CEO, IntelStor, USA
- Renewable Energy Digital Services Benefits Are Not Fully Recognised
- Wind Energy Industry Has Lost US$ 5.2 billion Through Avoidable IP Infringements and Trade Secret Theft
- Wind Energy Industry Research and Development Spending to Top US$ 36.9 billion by 2028
- Feed-in Tariff Turmoil in Taiwan Will Likely Cause the Offshore Wind Industry to Shift Focus to Nearby South Korea
- OEMs are Shifting Towards Global Supply Chain Cost Optimisation at the Expense of Optimal Turbine Levelised Cost of Energy
- With +10MW Offshore Turbines as the New Normal in Europe, Where Do the Chinese OEMs Go Next?
- Wind LCOE Set to Drop Further Thanks to the Expiration of Seminal Patents
- The Right Product Mix and a Modular Architecture Can Protect OEM Profits in the Age of Tenders
- Renewable Energy Digitalisation Growth Poised to Reap Benefits for the Data Rich
- Turbine OEMs with Product Portfolio Diversity are Most Successful in US Wind Market
- Enercon Acquisition of Lagerwey Enables Competitive Product Evolution with PMG Technology
- Commercial Value of Data Has Increased Thanks to Digitalisation
- Onshore Wind Turbine Tech to Top Out in Ten Years
- Hybrid Materials and 3D Printing Enabling SciFi Wind Turbine Structures
- Can Wireless Mesh Networks Kill Slip-Rings?
- Offshore Wind Yet to See Meaningful Digital Services Deployment
- Focus on TLPs, Predictive Maintenance and AEP Optimisation to Further Reduce Offshore LCOE
- Renewable energy Internet of Things to hit US$ 5.3 billion annually by 2030
- Onerous Mandates on Performance Impact or Reliability are Stifling RE Innovation
- Emergence of Digital Services Highlights Need for Content Licensing Business Model
- Digitalisation Necessitates New Thinking and New Business Models
- How Common Platform Wind Turbine Architecture Unlocks Export Markets
- Closing the Product Competitiveness Gap
- Offshore Innovation Seeing Lift-off
- Consolidation Spurs Wind Innovation Revival
- The future of technology – Services
- Power plant control
- The Rise of Asian Innovation
- The future of technology – Manufacturing
- The future of technology – Materials
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| #10 Vestas wind turbine installed in Stadtlohn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany (courtesy Lukas Diller and Simon Schwarz) |
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