20MW turbines could be available by 2020
Credit: James Quilter, Windpower Monthly, www.windpowermonthly.com 15 March 2011 ~~
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Translate: FROM English | TO English
EUROPE: The trend for increasingly larger wind turbines has received a boost from an EU-funded research project.
The UpWind research project, which aimed to explore the design limits of turbines, claims products with a capacity as high as 20MW are feasible. However, it said the existing designs would need to be substantially revamped if such a project was to come to fruition.
Netherlands Energy Research Centre senior scientist Jos Beurskens, who was involved in the UpWind project, said 20MW turbines could be in service by 2020 providing they were cost effective.
But, Beurskens said the project pointed out the technical areas requiring innovation, such as the blades.
A 20MW turbine would need a 200 metre blade, so fatigue loads would need to be lowered. This could be achieved be utilising individual blade control, using more flexible materials and making the blade in two sections, which could each be controlled separately.
The 15MW Azimut project, is currently the biggest turbine development programme in the pipeline. The project consists of 11 Spanish companies, including global giants Iberdrola, Acciona and Alstom Wind and Gamesa.
Enercon’s E-126 7.5MW turbine is the biggest turbine that is commerically available.
This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.
The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.
| Wind Watch relies entirely on User Funding |
 (via Stripe) |
 (via Paypal) |
Share:
[ Short URL: https://wind-watch.org/news/?p=47132 ]
