Rotek Series 10000 slewing rings are built with three independent rows of rollers. Since all loads are transmitted directly to raceway surfaces, which are perpendicular to the load direction, the capacity of each rolling element and each raceway surface is utilized in the most efficient manner.

The three-row roller slewing ring offers more capacity per unit size than any other Rotek slewing ring design and is inherently the stiffest style of construction. Frictional torque is lower than other styles under most load conditions. Both series can be internally or externally geared, or gearless.

Rotek Inc.
rotek-inc.com

Vestas will supply 190 of its recent 3-MW turbines for the Alta Wind Energy Center.

Vestas received a 570 MW order for 190, V90-3.0 MW turbines for Terra-Gen’s Alta Wind Energy Center near Tehachapi, California. The order has been placed by subsidiaries of Alta Wind Holdings, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Terra-Gen Power, LLC. Terra-Gen’s V90-3.0 MW purchase is Vestas’ largest order for a single site. The Alta project also sets several important benchmarks:

• It will be one of the largest wind power plants in the United States.

• The bank financing, bond issue, and sale leaseback financing of the Alta project make it the largest financing of a North American wind-energy project and the first wind-energy leveraged lease placed in the debt capital markets.
“When completed, the project will be the largest wind farm for which we have supplied turbines in our 31-year history as well as the biggest in California,” says Martha Wyrsch, President of Vestas Americas. The contract includes delivery and commissioning as well as a five-year service and maintenance agreement. Delivery begins scheduled for late 2010. The first 50 turbines will be commissioned by the end of 2010 and the remaining equipment will be online in the first half of 2011.

“The project represents an important expansion to the renewable generating base of California and helps us advance our nation’s goals of achieving energy independence in an environmentally responsible manner, ” says Terra-Gen CEO Jim Pagano.

Vestas’ manufacturing operations in Colorado will produce wind components for this order. Blades for the Alta project will be produced at Vestas’ blades factory in Windsor, Colorado. And most of the towers will be manufactured at Vestas’ new tower factory in Pueblo, Colorado.

Terra-Gen Power, LLC, is an affiliate of ArcLight Capital Partners and Global Infrastructure Partners. With more than 830 MW of generating capacity in operation and 720 MW of generating capacity under construction, Terra-Gen is one of the nation’s largest renewable energy providers and the only U.S. company that provides electricity on a utility scale from all three renewable-energy sources: wind, solar and geothermal power. Terra-Gen has 21 renewable-energy facilities operating in six states, and more than 5,000 MW of renewable energy capacity under development.

The Alta Wind Energy Center is supported by a 1,550 MW power purchase agreement with Southern California Edison to sell renewable energy. This order marks Vestas’ eighth North American deal announced in 2010, totaling 1,336 MW this year among four turbine types.

Vestas, a manufacturer of high-tech wind power systems, has supplied more than 40,500 wind turbines to 65 countries since 1979. The company is investing upwards of $1 billion in the USA to establish its North American manufacturing base, which includes a tower manufacturing facility, a nacelle-assembly factory, and two blade factories. The firm delivered its first wind turbine to North America in 1981 and since has supplied more than 11,000 turbines in this region.

Vestas

vestas.com

Five grids at different voltages connect the U.S. The IDC Energy Insights study includes an overview of transmission technologies that offer solutions to the challenges along with examples and an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. Map source: EIA

“Wind-based electricity generation has enjoyed rapid growth in the U.S. over the past 10 years, driven by state-level renewable portfolio standards and wind’s current status as the least cost, most scalable renewable energy option,” says IDC Energy Insights Research Manager Jay Holman. “New wind farms must be located in areas with excellent wind resources and, unfortunately, these areas are often far from load centers and have weak transmission infrastructure.”

According to the IDC Energy Insights study, this creates a well documented need for additional transmission capacity, which has been difficult to satisfy due to planning and permitting hurdles that can cause endless delays and cost escalations for new transmission projects.

However, IDC Energy Insights research indicates it is not always necessary to build new transmission lines to add transmission capacity. Technologies exist that allow an increase in transmission capacity that causes little or no visible change to the existing transmission infrastructure. Even in situations where new transmission lines are required, technologies are available that can minimize their footprint, helping to stimulate planning and permitting. While no single technology will solve all transmission related challenges, together these technologies will play an important role in increasing the penetration of renewables – wind in particular – on the grid. The technologies cited by the report include:

• Dynamic line rating

• High-temperature, low-sag conductors

• Voltage uprating

• Ac-to dc conversion

• Flexible ac transmission equipment

• High-voltage dc equipment

• Superconducting conductors

“The costs that transmission constraints have imposed on the energy industry through wind curtailment and wind project delays, cancellations, and size reductions have led to increased focus on technologies that can quickly and economically increase transmission capacity while helping to alleviate challenges associated with the planning and permitting process,” says Holman.

The IDC Energy Insights study includes an overview of transmission technologies that offer solutions to the challenges along with examples and an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. Finally, the report draws conclusions and makes recommendations for industry stakeholders who want to take full advantage of existing and planned transmission technologies.

Workers at the Vestas blade plant in Windsor, Colo., discuss production issues.

Vestas says it has created more than 1,000 highly skilled manufacturing jobs to meet growing production needs at its three Colorado factories. The Vestas’ blade factory in Windsor, tower factory in Pueblo, and nacelle factory in Brighton have been hiring to fill a variety of new jobs to prepare for several recently announced orders.

• Vestas Blades in Windsor now employs 650 people in areas such as engineering, purchasing, human resources, finance, administration, and production. The factory was hiring as of July 15, 2010, and looking for production and electro-mechanical workers.

• Vestas Towers in Pueblo — the largest wind tower manufacturing facility in the world — has filled more than 180 new positions in the past few months, bringing the total to 283 employees. The tower factory continues its ramp up and seeks skilled workers in areas including plasma cutting, welding, and painting. The tower factory will recruit at the Southern Colorado Jobs and Career Fair at the Pueblo Convention Center on July 22, 2010.

• Vestas Nacelles in Brighton, which opened July 7, 2010, employs more than 280 workers. Jobs there have included technicians, logistics personnel, production engineers, quality engineers, planners and team leaders.

According to Martha Wyrsch, president of Vestas-American Wind Technology Inc., the factories have been hiring but with care in response to a number of announced orders in the United States and Canada. This includes a 250-MW order placed by Enbridge/Renewable Energy Systems Americas Inc. (RES Americas) for 139 V90-1.8 MW turbines for the Cedar Point Wind project in Colorado’s Lincoln, Elbert, and Arapahoe counties.

“This latest order in Colorado is especially significant because it is local,” says Wyrsch. “With this order, we will deliver local product — manufactured by a highly skilled, well-trained local workforce — that will be used to build the second-largest wind project in the state.”

“Vestas is employing people in many desirable jobs ranging from engineering to welding to painting,” says Anthony Knopp, VP for Vestas Towers America. “We have taken advantage of the downturn to hire a number of highly skilled employees who have been turned loose from other industries. We’ve hired all functions related to tower building including steel fabricators, finishers, welders, assemblers, and maintenance personnel.”

Vestas says that In Colorado, as is true elsewhere throughout the company’s global manufacturing operations, employees receive exceptional benefits and opportunities for professional training and development, as well as competitive wages. “The company pays 100% of the premiums for health-care coverage for its employees and their families making our health and wellness program more competitive than almost all other employers in the market,” says Gary Held, manager of People & Culture for the new nacelle factory. “Vestas offers an employee educational assistance program, four weeks of annual vacation, and a range of other benefits designed to enhance health, wellness, and career and job satisfaction. We believe this attracts and retains the best talent in Colorado.”

In addition to direct jobs created by the company, a number of indirect jobs can be attributed to its growth in Colorado, including more than 2,500 construction jobs that helped build the three factories and hundreds of service industry jobs that have recently seen a boost in areas such as security, sanitation and maintenance, food and beverage supply, and tooling and fixturing.

“We are taking the approach that it is important to build the communities in which our employees live and work, and this means we need to have a big picture view of jobs,” says Wyrsch. “With that in mind, we are exploring opportunities with businesses neighboring our factories. We are encouraging suppliers to build the wind industry’s North American supply chain that will help create even more jobs for the wind business.”

A medium-voltage frequency converter, the ABB PCS 6000 Wind, provides a solution for wind turbine applications that require high power density and high reliability.

A medium-voltage frequency converter, the PCS 6000 Wind, works on wind turbines that require high power density and high reliability.  The 6000-series of liquid-cooled Integrated Gate Commutated Thyristor (IGCT) converters has a reputation for durable and reliable operation under harsh conditions. The PCS 6000 Wind matches well with large-scale wind turbines with the need for a 3 to 8-MVA grid power interconnection. Thanks to the combination of proven components and an innovative technology, the frequency converter has an unmatched reliability and efficiency. Medium-voltage technology results in lower currents, and therefore equipment that needs less space, less cabling, and has lower system losses.

A few of its main characteristics include:

• Medium voltage IGCT technology
• 4-quadrant operation
• Fuseless design
• Water cooling
• Compact and modular design

A few plusses include:

• Designed for high power wind turbines
• High reliability, efficiency, and power density
• Full grid code compliance
• Maximum control of turbine speed and power

The PCS 6000 Wind meets requirements of the multi MW wind turbines with full size converters. The converter has a reliability and efficiency unmatched on the market. Fast and accurate process control in combination with low-energy consumption results in top performance. The IGCT semiconductors are state-of-the-art in medium-voltage technology. This results in a less complex, and efficient and reliable converter that minimizes operating and maintenance costs.

Diagnostic Information Analysis System is the smart tool for supervising the process. In case of a problem, ABB service personnel can provide remote support to local service teams. The power converter control system records important signals and the status of the converter along with a timestamp during a fault. ABB service personnel can use a a built-in transient recorder to remotely analyze recording and give direct guidance to on-site personnel. Substantial benefits come from from proper installation and commissioning of the equipment. Factory testing and inspections, in addition to the traditional operational parameter setting done by ABB’s commissioning engineers, will reduce start up time, increase safety and reliability, and decrease life-cycle costs. In addition, operators can be trained by experienced specialists on site.

Taylor Johnson, Senior Editor

Land procurement and development for wind farms is no walk-in-the-park. Obstacles, such as zoning and lack of transmission right-of-ways, are hampering current projects, but even more troubling are new obstacles state legislatures and city councils are implementing, such as those recently voted into Wyoming’s laws.

In that state, ranchers have a significant influence on local and state politics due to their immense land tracts. What’s more, the oil and gas industries have been the state’s primary economic source for many years. Put these two together and you find a crippled wind industry throughout the state. Though Wyoming could boast being the seventh richest in wind resources in the United States, it is only the country’s twelfth wind power producing state.

Earlier this year, the Wyoming Senate voted to impose the nation’s first excise tax on the production of wind energy. The bill will impose a one dollar per megawatt hour tax on all electricity produced by wind. Of course one dollar is not an extreme amount when one considers the greater picture, but weigh that against the tax credits and incentives other states are implementing in hopes of luring green industry to their states, and you’d think the state was trying to stifle the growth of wind energy.

Another major obstacle for the production of wind energy in Wyoming is that of power transmission. There are currently six high voltage transmission-line projects in the planning or permitting stage, but none in the building stage. This is an enormous problem for wind developers. Although they are often able to produce electricity, they are unable to distribute it to high-demand markets such as California. Again, the issue falls back to the influence ranchers and land owners have in the state. Many land owners are unwilling to offer their land for a high-voltage line, and without a straight shot out of Wyoming, power line projects cannot stay within budget.

A third issue facing development in the state is one frequently found elsewhere, wildlife and ecosystem preservation. In May 2008, the Wyoming governor’s office issued an executive order stating they would no longer issue permits for projects within a “core area”. This area covers 23% of Wyoming’s breeding grounds, migration routes, and wintering areas for the Sage Grouse, a species nearing the endangered species list. The order halted wind development of all kinds in some of Wyoming’s richest wind resource areas. In response, the Wyoming Power Producers Coalition (WPPC) has begun lobbying efforts to educate the legislature and congress in attempt to relax the state’s anti-wind policies.

Wyoming may yet see more scenes of this sort if wind-energy developers can find innovative solutions to counter what seems to be anti-wind policies.

Of course, what Wyoming and its’ people wish to do with their state is their prerogative. Perhaps this is an opportunity for project developers to find innovative solutions. For those heavily invested in the area, discounted power rates to ranchers who offer their land might be a solution. Or possibly find a system that will permanently employ some of Wyoming’s citizens. These would be preferable to bursting on and off the scene with millions in venture capital, leaving only eye sores and partitioned land. WPE

Holly Wold of Whirlwind LLC in Denver, Colo. also contributed to this article.

The design features several advantages, such as a capability to withstand high mechanical loads in the rotating hub. An external connection is facilitated by means of an integrated diode for EPU and dc link circuit decoupling. No need for shielded cables for the EPU because its connection is included in the EMC concept. Accurate EPU voltage measurements reduce the number of additional components in the switchgear cabinet, thus reducing installation time and increasing reliability. An integrated acceleration sensor supplies information on rotor speed, rotor position, and vibrations. This data can be used for condition monitoring equipment. An inherently earth-fault proof brake driver allows regulating holding brakes to EPU voltage level, thus reducing the number of relevant switching devices in the switchgear cabinet. The motor software also supports control of synchronous, asynchronous, or dc motors.

Lastly, the PITCHmaster II was optimized to increase its reliable operation in harsh environments. This reduces the number of maintenance intervals which leads to higher wind turbine availability.

“This alliance with 3M lets us offer cutting-edge 3M products to customers as well as all the other process consumables and composite materials they might need,” says Dave Smith, Composites One Power Generation Market Manager. Composites One distributes composite materials serving users from over 30 locations in North America. The company offers composite fabricators and molders thousands of products from the industry’s top suppliers through a knowledgeable technical sales and customer service force. The company offers a variety of value-added services that include closed mold technologies, technical applications reviews, and regulatory compliance assistance.