The 10-year agreement provides cofunding for development of a 60-Hz version of the existing high wind speed (Class 1A) turbine, and a 500-kW version optimized for North American locations with lower wind speeds (Class 2A) also found in many other world locations.

“Windflow Technology’s 500-kilowatt turbines will serve customers who require an alternative energy source in addition to a connection to a power grid. Typical users might include manufacturing facilities, government complexes, colleges and universities, and military installations,” said Gary Kanipe, VP and General Manager of General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies. “Our company will provide engineering, field service, and maintenance support for wind turbines that will be manufactured at facilities in Longview and Kilgore, Texas.”

Windflow retains the rights for manufacture and sale of its turbine designs throughout Europe, Asia, and Australia, as well as worldwide rights in the application of its field-proven core technologies in multimegawatt turbines. The agreement also contains provisions to support Windflow in resuming turbine manufacturing in Christchurch and allows Windflow limited rights to supply Class 1A turbines into Hawaii and California. The company is working towards further partnerships and licensing opportunities.

Windflow Technology Ltd. www.windflow.co.nz

General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies www.gdsatcom.com

Windpower Engineering & Development

The overall cost of the Cedar Point Wind Project was about $500 million. The wind farm used a Treasury Grant Program. -Photo RES Americas

Cedar Point encompasses about 20,000 acres of private property across Lincoln, Elbert, and Arapahoe counties about 80 miles east of Denver. The land is leased by wind project owner Enbridge Inc. “The site was selected for several critical reasons,” says Shalini Ramanathan, VP of development for RES Americas. “There’s a strong and consistent wind, available transmission, and the opportunity to access an interconnection point.” The location’s proximity to a Denver load center was also convenient, as was space for hosting 139 turbines.

Wind farm construction began in August of 2010 and the project went online in September 2011. Because of Colorado’s Clean Energy Standard (30% by 2020) many turbine manufacturers have been compelled to build facilities in the area. Therefore, all components for Cedar Point’s Vestas V90 1.8-turbines were manufactured within the state, engaging local workers and reducing shipping time.

Although high wind speeds make the site great for generating wind energy, these winds also affected construction. In an informational video about the project, Enbridge says about 20 days of construction were dubbed as “wind outs” when crane work was shut down due to winds over 22 mph. However, VP of Construction Jason Zingerman says planning was efficient enough so that when inclement weather arrived, roads and other necessary infrastructure were complete, allowing progress to continue. “The company feels fortunate that the weather was cooperative for most of construction because the area tends to experience occasional extreme conditions,” he says. “RES Americas was able to get ahead on the construction schedule and stay there throughout the duration of the project.”

The project’s turbines are connected by two substations and generate about 875,000 MWh annually. Energy generated from Cedar Point travels about 42 miles to interconnect with power purchaser Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo), an Xcel Energy company. The wind farm will deliver electricity to PSCo’s electricity transmission grid to power homes and businesses state wide.

Ramanathan says the project enjoyed strong support, even from the early stages of development. “The community was energetic and supportive of the project from onset to completion,” she says. The company contributes this to numerous open houses and public meetings hosted to ensure the community was comfortable with the project and well informed. “Area residents quickly realized the benefits a wind project of this size would have on the surrounding communities, including the creation of more than 300 jobs during construction and increased tax revenue.” WPE

Windpower Engineering & Development

A technician in the rotor mount guides the crane operator during turbine assembly. The LTW77’s modular construction of its machine carrier, generator, tower, and hub allows easy transport and assembly. This means crews can install the turbine at sites with challenging terrain and limited access, such as this one in Bulgaria.

The LTW77’s generator is part of the load-bearing structure, which helps manage weight. The design is also said to eliminate costly external structures, such as transformer stations, by integrating all power electronics—transformer included—into the tower base rather than in the nacelle. This modular design helps lower transportation and installation costs.

The direct drive eliminates the gearbox giving the advantage of fewer moving parts and lower generator speeds. Fewer rotating parts means less friction, and less friction improves the turbine’s efficiency in slower winds. This makes the turbine suitable even in low-density wind power areas. The manufacturer adds that conventional generators take only a few months to go through the number of rotations the LTW77 will perform in its life.

Leitwind also offers ParkManager, which provides an interface to monitor and control wind farms, such as this one shown in Croatia.

Furthermore, a hollow rotor shaft allows safe and easy access to all serviceable generator parts. Technicians can quickly replace rotor components without having to dismantle the entire generator. Therefore, wear, operation, and maintenance costs are significantly reduced.

A multi-pole synchronous generator with permanent magnets makes the most out of the wind energy. Permanent magnets also improve yield by eliminating electrical excitation required by conventional generators. Also, a control system monitors turbine performance using variable rpm´s and pitch control to optimize production in partial and full-load ranges. Leitwind says this gives their turbines a huge advantage, especially in the partial-load range.

The turbine’s synchronous generator and frequency converter produces excellent grid compatibility, says the manufacturer. The LTW77’s converter is easily set to a wide range of connection requirements that meet the local grid codes of most any operator.

The grid side of the turbine’s frequency converter handles a wide reactive-power range and can support even weak and unstable grids. The turbine’s full power yield is fed through the Leitwind frequency converter so the generator can be taken off the grid completely when needed. Active and reactive power control and an ability to smoothly compensate sudden voltage drops are said to give the turbine grid connection characteristics similar to conventional power plants. WPE

Windpower Engineering & Development

Using Gamesa’s 2.0-MW turbine as a laboratory, researchers will study the behavior of systems and how new designs, products, and equipment can affect performance.

 The public-private partnership will develop innovations that will enhance the capabilities and performance of advanced wind systems in tapping the vast potential of this renewable energy resource and ultimately bring the nation closer to 20% wind energy by 2030.

 Gamesa and NREL will collaborate on work in these key areas by developing new wind turbine components and rotors for the U.S. market, researching and testing the performance of new control strategies, and devising models that will help advance the development of offshore wind in U.S. waters.

 “Wind energy is going to continue to play a key role in creating a stronger and more sustainable American economy,” said Dr. Miguel Angel Gonzalez-Posada, Vice President of Technology for Gamesa North America. Gamesa has installed and commissioned a G97 Class IIIA 2.0 MW test wind turbine at NREL’s National Wind Technology Center near Boulder, Colorado.

“These types of collaborations demonstrate a commitment to crucial technology development and the public-private partnerships necessary to ensure continued momentum of the wind-power industry,” says NREL’s Deputy Laboratory Director for Science and Technology Dana Christensen. “Our role with the Department of Energy is to reduce technical risks and thereby help accelerate next generation technology into the marketplace. NREL is proud to be at the forefront of this important work.”

 Since its introduction last year, Gamesa’s G9X-2.0 MW turbine platform has gained recognition for its blade design, updated nacelle, enhanced control systems, and other features that substantially increase energy output. The G97 Class IIIA 2.0 MW model, which will serve as the test platform with NREL, is intended for low-wind sites, a segment from which Gamesa expects over half of all future on-shore demand.

 Gamesa and NREL also will work to design and test new lightning protection and other turbine conditioning systems, examining their performances in a range of temperatures at high altitude to ensure that they function in us environments. New converters will be used to test ways to increase energy output while enhancing component reliability. Extensive tests also will be conducted on other turbine key components, examining motion, temperatures, stresses and vibration levels, where the findings could lead to improvements that enhance the reliability of future us installations.

 Control strategies: The two organizations also will work to develop new control strategies that improve energy capture while decreasing loads, which will be accomplished through development of new algorithms. New control strategies will be tested throughout the turbine. Testing will include measurement of aerodynamic loads, the response of blade profiles, and pitch actuation. Output will be measured to determine how changes affect power output and its fluctuations, and what the effects are on structural loads and the drive-train response.

 Offshore wind: NREL and Gamesa will conduct a round-robin exercise using existing turbine modeling software to develop new methods that will let companies predict the behavior of offshore wind turbines, as well as the potential sensitivity of equipment to the offshore environment. The two organizations will examine factors such as wind-speed distribution, turbulence intensity and wind shear, waves, tides, currents, temperature, lightning and ice formation, and how these factors correlate with performance and the potential cost for the design, operation and maintenance of offshore wind systems.

 “This research project will examine every aspect of the turbine, from its base to the blade tip at its apex, along with all the parts that make it turn,” said Gonzalez-Posada. Full project testing on the entire slate of programs began January 2012. The core provisions of the public-private partnership run through 2013, with options for two additional years of collaboration.

NREL
http://www.windpowerengineering.com/directory/?s=National+Renewable+Energy+Lab&searchsubmit=Search

Gamesa Technology Corp.
http://www.windpowerengineering.com/directory/?s=Gamesa&searchsubmit=Search

Windpower Engineering & Development

-NSK

Machines that manufacture advanced wind turbines and towers depend a lot on conventional yet also advanced manufacturing methods, such as welding. One welding-machine manufacturer recently called on a linear motion and assembly-technology company to help improve custom welding machines for the wind industry. Such welding equipment is used to build turbine towers up to 100-m high.

Typically, a machine rolls a metal plate, often 709 grade 50 carbon steel. into a cylinder called a “can” that measures about 9-ft long by 8 to 15-ft dia. Another machine then welds along longitudinal seams to complete the can and then circumferentially to join them with multi-pass butt welds made by submerged arc welding.

The weld head is suspended from a cantilevered guide rail for outside welding. Most of the machine is stationary while the weld head moves short distances on two and three axes, both along and across a seam. A linear control actuator at the end of a horizontal arm determines the motion of the weld head. Smaller can sections are welded on a large assembly line, called a growing line.

Welding procedures and consumables can vary based on tower requirements for height, design, and location.

After assembling the sections and adding internal tower equipment, such as ladders, they are transported to the installation site, lifted into place, and bolted together.

Welding requirements for offshore tower construction are impacted by the tower’s large size and associated nacelles, as well as the thicker steel required for strength and fatigue resistance. Joining thicker steel sections with larger weld joints requires using a greater volume of welding consumables, thus requiring additional welding passes. This adds time and cost to the job.

Fabricating towers capable of resisting extreme environmental conditions requires thicker plate, or higher-strength steel, or both along with higherstrength weld deposits. Welding such material requires welding procedures and filler metal with a chemical composition that delivers the same mechanical properties in the weld deposit.

Using consumables intended for offshore towers minimizes the associated welding problems, such as cracking. Submerged arc-welding flux and electrodes have been developed to provide the strength and impact properties required for onshore and offshore towers, including the more rigorous requirements of coldclimate towers.

A recent welder is said to give operators the flexibility to control every aspect of the welding output to provide the best results for an application. Enhanced control over the welding waveform let operators weld at significantly higher deposition rates than comparable conventional power sources, thereby improving weld productivity and reducing costs. In addition, multiple power sources can be used to weld with multiple arcs to increase deposition rates and reduce the number of passes required to fill the joint. This decreases production time and consumables, contributing to lower overall wind project costs.

Windpower Engineering & Development

Summary of treatment

• For rooftop Installations, the assessment and tax classification of property will not change due to the addition of a renewable energy installation on the rooftop of a building.
• For ground Installations, the property tax treatment depends on the size and location of the facility as well as who is conducting the generation, as outlined here: The following rules apply where energy generation is conducted by a person who is not ordinarily in the business of electricity generation, transmission or distribution, and where the generation is ancillary to another activity on the same property.

Small-size ground installations with a generation capacity up to 10 kW will not experience an increase in assessment or a change in tax classification.

Medium-size ground installations with a generation capacity over 10 kW and up to 500 kW will be taxed based on the surrounding land use (e.g. residential, farm, multiresidential, commercial).

Large-size ground installations with a generation capacity over 500 kW will be taxed based on the surrounding land use for the proportion of assessment up to 500 kW, and at the industrial rate for the proportion over 500 kW. For example, if a 560 kW wind tower is located on multi-residential property, the assessment of the wind tower and associated land would be apportioned 89% to the multi-residential tax class and 11 per cent to the industrial tax class.

• For On-Farm Anaerobic Digestion: Organic materials in an enclosed vessel are broken down by micro-organisms, in the absence of oxygen. Anaerobic digestion produces biogas (primarily of methane and carbon dioxide). Anaerobic digestion systems are also often referred to as “biogas systems.” Anaerobic digestion facilities of size that are located on a farm and are operated by the farmer will be taxed at the farm rate.
• For generation by corporate power producers, consistent with historic treatment, these facilities operated by entities whose primary business is the generation, transmission, or distribution of electricity (“corporate power producers”) will continue to be taxed at the industrial rate.
• For wind turbine towers, Consistent with the treatment that has been in place since 2005, these will continue assessed at $40,000/MW of installed capacity, except in the two situations noted above where the assessment would not be affected by the installation (rooftop installations and ground-based installations up to 10 kW).

Ontario Regulation 282/98 was also amended to provide clear policy regarding energy efficiency and energy conservation installations that use renewable energy technologies. As a result, the assessment of properties with an active solar heating or cooling system or a ground-sourced geothermal heating or cooling system will not be increased as a result of that improvement. Questions prompted by the regulatory amendments described above may be directed to the Ministry of Finance, Property Tax Legislation and Assessment Policy Branch:

In January 2012, Ontario Regulation 282/98 under the Assessment Act was amended to provide greater clarity and introduce new rules governing the property tax treatment of renewable-energy installations. The amendments apply to facilities that generate electricity using solar energy, wind energy, or anaerobic digestion of organic matter. The amendments took effect January 1, 2011.

Summary of treatment

• For rooftop Installations, the assessment and tax classification of property will not change due to the addition of a renewable energy installation on the rooftop of a building.
• For ground Installations, the property tax treatment depends on the size and location of the facility as well as who is conducting the generation, as outlined here: The following rules apply where energy generation is conducted by a person who is not ordinarily in the business of electricity generation, transmission or distribution, and where the generation is ancillary to another activity on the same property.

Small-size ground installations with a generation capacity up to 10 kW will not experience an increase in assessment or a change in tax classification.

Medium-size ground installations with a generation capacity over 10 kW and up to 500 kW will be taxed based on the surrounding land use (e.g. residential, farm, multiresidential, commercial).

Large-size ground installations with a generation capacity over 500 kW will be taxed based on the surrounding land use for the proportion of assessment up to 500 kW, and at the industrial rate for the proportion over 500 kW. For example, if a 560 kW wind tower is located on multi-residential property, the assessment of the wind tower and associated land would be apportioned 89% to the multi-residential tax class and 11 per cent to the industrial tax class.

• For On-Farm Anaerobic Digestion: Organic materials in an enclosed vessel are broken down by micro-organisms, in the absence of oxygen. Anaerobic digestion produces biogas (primarily of methane and carbon dioxide). Anaerobic digestion systems are also often referred to as “biogas systems.” Anaerobic digestion facilities of size that are located on a farm and are operated by the farmer will be taxed at the farm rate.
• For generation by corporate power producers, consistent with historic treatment, these facilities operated by entities whose primary business is the generation, transmission, or distribution of electricity (“corporate power producers”) will continue to be taxed at the industrial rate.
• For wind turbine towers, Consistent with the treatment that has been in place since 2005, these will continue assessed at $40,000/MW of installed capacity, except in the two situations noted above where the assessment would not be affected by the installation (rooftop installations and ground-based installations up to 10 kW).

Ontario Regulation 282/98 was also amended to provide clear policy regarding energy efficiency and energy conservation installations that use renewable energy technologies. As a result, the assessment of properties with an active solar heating or cooling system or a ground-sourced geothermal heating or cooling system will not be increased as a result of that improvement. Questions prompted by the regulatory amendments described above may be directed to the Ministry of Finance, Property Tax Legislation and Assessment Policy Branch:

Mr. Murray Mann, (416) 325-2370, murray.mann@ontario.ca

Ms. Nivedita Ravi, (416) 212-4694, nivedita.ravi@ontario.ca

Windpower Engineering & Development

Nearby Glacier I and 2 Wind projects were also constructed by Mortenson.

Mortenson Construction was recently selected by San Francisco-based developer, NaturEner for the construction of the Rim Rock Wind Project. Located on nearly 21,000 acres about 20 miles north of NaturEner’s Glacier I and 2 Wind projects, previously constructed by Mortenson, Rim Rock will generate189-MW of wind power.

Mortenson is responsible for the design and construction of access roads, foundations, erection of 126 Acciona 1.5-megawatt turbines, overhead and underground electrical collection system, two 230 kV substations, a generator tie line, and an O&M facility.  Construction began late October, proceeding through the winter months and is expected to complete in October, 2012.

Montana’s wind attributes are unique to the industry.  According to AWEA, the state is ranked third in the U.S. for potential wind generating capacity, with more than 944,000 MW available for production.  This much wind energy could produce more than 210 times the state’s current electricity needs. Along with Montana’s vast wind resources, the siting for this project was selected because of the ease of access to the property and the business-friendly development atmosphere in this part of Montana. This is NaturEner’s third project in the area.

Since entering the renewable energy market in 1995, Mortenson Construction has constructed more than 100 wind projects generating more than 11,000 MW of renewable power across the United States and Canada. Mortenson’s Renewable Energy Group also constructs facilities that generate solar power, biofuels, and hydro-electric power.

Mortenson
www.mortenson.com/renewables

Windpower Engineering & Development

The recent Vestas V100 will see more installations in 2012.

Vestas completed 2011 with a second consecutive strong year for wind-turbine sales in the United States and Canada, announcing 1,617 MW and 812 wind turbines worth of orders. Vestas also achieved a record year for installations with 30 new wind-power plants coming online in 2011.

“By the end of 2012, we will have added about 50 new wind farms in the U.S. and Canada over the past two years, solidifying our service business for years to come,” said Martha Wyrsch, President of Vestas’ sales and service operations in the U.S. and Canada. “We’ve also done our work very safely. Across our regional operations, Vestas and its contractors have not had a lost-time injury in more than a year, and our construction operations have not had a recordable or lost-time injury in two years.”

 Overall, the company received 10 sales orders from U.S. customers (1,185 MW) and four from Canadian customers (432 MW). In 2010, Vestas announced a company record 1,883 MW of turbine orders for the U.S. and Canadian markets.

Jobs added
To address the growing need for service and maintenance of the new wind power plants, Vestas’ sales and service business unit in the U.S. and Canada has hired more than 200 people since spring 2011. In addition, there are more than 150 job openings in the U.S./Canadian sales and service business unit, primarily in the areas of service, construction and technology. To meet demand for 2010 and 2011 sales, Vestas has filled nearly 700 jobs in the United States and Canada in the past eight months for its regional operations, including many manufacturing positions.

Jobs at stake with PTC expiration

The Production Tax Credit (PTC), due to expire Dec. 31, 2012, has helped drive Vestas’ business and its decision to heavily invest in the United States in the past few years. Wyrsch said if the PTC expires, it will have an impact on employment and capital investment in the U.S. wind industry in 2013 and beyond.

“Since 1999, the PTC has been extended seven times, and prior to 2005, this was done retroactively after expiration,” Wyrsch said. “Along with other industry leaders, we have been engaged in activities designed to extend the PTC as soon as possible — thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs, both at Vestas and other wind energy suppliers, depend on it.”

 Despite the potential for a PTC expiration, Wyrsch said 2012 will be an extremely active year in the U.S. and Canada with more than 20 planned installations of wind-energy projects.
In 2011, Vestas also:

• Began renovation on new North American headquarters building in Portland, Ore., with a planned move in spring 2012
• Announced first sale of the new V112-3.0 MW, a 65 MW project in Vermont
• Began construction on wind-energy projects for EDP Renováveis (EDPR) as part of the master supply agreement announced in 2010
• Achieved zero lost-time injuries, and no recordable or lost-time injuries among Vestas construction employees and contractors since January 2010
• Maintained a strong 1,700-employee manufacturing base in Colorado that are busy producing turbine components — blades, nacelles and towers — for U.S. and Canadian projects.
• Began exporting components from its U.S. factories to projects in Mexico, Brazil and Nicaragua
• Renewed 729 MW worth of service contracts, averaging five years, at 16 wind power plants
• Broke ground on 27,000-ft²Test & Verification facility in Marlborough, Mass., which will focus on the research, development, testing and verification of electric power generators and converters for next-generation wind turbines. The facility will open in the summer 2012 and expects to create at least 66 jobs.Summary of Announced Orders in the U.S. and Canada (2011) 

 Vestas
www.vestas.com

Windpower Engineering & Development

• Russia’s energy prospects and their implications for global markets.

• The role of coal in driving economic growth in an emissions-constrained world.

• The implications of a possible delay in oil and gas sector investment in the Middle East and North Africa.

• The scale of fossil fuel subsidies and support for renewable energy and their impact on energy, economic, and environmental trends.

• A “Low Nuclear Case” to investigate what a rapid slowdown in the use of nuclear power would mean for the global-energy landscape.

• The scale and type of investment needed to provide modern energy to the billions of the world’s poor that do not have it.

WEO-2011 provides insights into how the energy system could evolve over the next 25 years. The book is essential reading, says authors, for anyone with a stake in the energy sector.

WEO-2011 purchasers will receive link, user ID, and password letting them download the published Annex A Tables for Scenario Projections from the World Energy Outlook 2011 Excel format. See video of Dr Fatih Birol, IEA Chief Economist , presenting key topics in the WEO-2011

World Energy Outlook
www.worldenergyoutlook.org

Windpower Engineering & Development

Thirty Nordex N100/2500 turbines will sing at the Mozart wind farm in Texas.

A 30 MW wind farm in Texas will open with 12, 2.5 MW turbines. Nordex USA Inc. announced the new order from developer WKN USA LLC, for its 30 MW Mozart Wind Farm. The 12 Nordex N100/2500 wind turbines on 80-m towers will be located about 60 miles northwest of Abilene, in an area that led the country in wind energy installations over the last decade. The N100’s proven performance record makes it an excellent fit for the site’s IEC Class IIa wind regime.

WKN USA became the first Germany-based firm to construct a commercial size wind project in the United States. In August 2011, BayWa AG through its wholly owned subsidiary BayWare GmbH, acquired a majority stake in WKN USA. This marks the first turbine order in the U.S. for BayWa, continuing its success in the European renewable market.

“We have always valued the quality of Nordex turbines, their engineering, expertise and their creative solutions,” said Florian Zerhusen, Founder & CEO of WKN USA LLC. “We see this order as a first step in extending the success of both of our companies in the American market.”

The Mozart wind farm is about 60 mi. NW of Abilene.

Nordex begins delivery of the Mozart wind farm turbines in late August 2012, and will be responsible for their installation and commissioning. Commercial operation is scheduled for mid-December and an Extended Service contract with a two-year term has been agreed. The nacelles will be produced at Nordex’ new plant in Jonesboro, Arkansas. By the end of this 2011, Nordex will have installed 447.5 MW of its 2.5 MW turbines in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado, Idaho and Iowa and around 4,300 MW of such turbines worldwide since the year 2001.

“We are honored that WKN has selected Nordex for the Mozart Wind Farm. They are widely respected as an international leader in turnkey renewable energy projects and undertook a rigorous review of our technology and our capability,” said Ralf Sigrist, President & CEO of Nordex USA, Inc. “As a growing global company, we know it is important to solidify our existing business connections while we continue our expansion in the Americas.”

Nordex USA Inc.
www.nordex-online.com

WKN USA LLC
www.wknusa.com

Windpower Engineering & Development