Wind makes a good neighbor Last year, my good friend Anna spent the summer in a small, rural Ontario Airbnb. She was unaware when booking the home that it was near a wind farm, and was concerned initially about noise and shadow flicker. Neither affected her and it turned out that she loved seeing the…

How EVs will drive the wind industry and vice versa The automobile, long the symbol of go-anywhere freedom, not long ago became an object of scorn because of its high consumption of fossil fuel. Is it possible to redeem vehicles from such disrepute by substituting electric drives for internal combustion engines? Yes, it is. The…

Welcome to the 2018 renewable energy guidebook IF YOU’RE FAMILIAR WITH THIS PUBLICATION, you’ll notice we’ve changed our name from “handbook” to “guidebook.” In an effort to produce the best content possible, we took a moment to step back and consider what information in this “extra” edition would be the most beneficial to our readers.…

    A few observations from the offshore wind industry A savvy Brit recently suggested that the U.S. offshore wind industry should take advantage of European experience. The reason, he said almost in confidence, was that “We’ve made most of the mistakes already.” It’s hard to argue with that logic. Letting novices head up unfamiliar…

    Welcome to the 5,000-MW Club, Kansas There’s a new club in town, and another U.S. state has recently joined. The “5,000-Megawatt Club” has an exclusive membership of only five states so far. For entry, each one must officially exceed 5,000 MW of wind-generated capacity. The most recent honor goes to Kansas, which grabbed…

    Consider these costs as you amble through life Most people don’t buy so much as bubble gum without asking, “How much does it cost?” So for your amusement I have assembled a list of costs arranged in an order that you may find entertaining. Hopefully, you’ll find the apples-to-oranges juxtapositions equally interesting. A…

    Mini lessons in leadership – 2017 At a leadership conference some years ago, we participated in an exercise to show the value of a group’s collective wisdom. That problem scenario had our group on a spaceship that had crash landed on the moon. The recovery site was some distance away. Which of the…

01 Editorial: What if the nation went wild for wind power? 44 Projects: Decommissioning Canada’s oldest wind farm 66 Cover Foundations that float   What if the nation went wild for wind power? By: Paul Dvorak Suppose our nation decided that as coal and nuclear-powered facilities reached the end of their useful life, they would…

  A great time to invest in wind power   The saying goes that good things come in threes, and the wind industry has certainly delivered on a trio of positives this past year. For one, the industry started 2016 with a five-year extension of the Production Tax Credit (PTC), which provides wind developers with…

U.S. offshore wind industry officially launched. Now what? What’s the difference between a U.S. wind farm and one in Europe? This may sound like the lead-in to a joke, but the question is serious and comes from a wind-industry veteran at a recent AWEA event. The answer: Everything! In Europe, a land-based wind farm often…

01 Editorial: More darn-near impossible grand challenges for the wind industry 06 Windwatch: Research in Minnesota, MAKE Consulting looks ahead, Better blades ready for refits, Meet the wind tech 26 Retrofits New ideas for upgrading communication networks   The next 10 darn-near impossible grand challenges for the wind industry   The idea of grand challenges…

02 Editorial: Wind energy inspires present and future generations 08 Windwatch: A chilling story of blade abuse, What to do with extra towers, Journal bearings in a planetary stage, Ask a wind tech, Wind work around North America 42 How small data from material science accurately predicts failure rates and more Decades of experience with…

02 EDITORIAL Why can’t some utilities just work with the wind industry? 08 WINDWATCH Preview of WINDPOWER 2016 in New Orleans, Wikov gears, Guard for leading-edge erosion, Making construction, sustainable work, Ask a wind tech, Windwork around North America 40 INTERNET OF THINGS Talking with turbines through the Internet of Things   Why can’t Ohio…

01 EDITORIAL Showing Leadership in wind 06 WINDWATCH VariLoad, Fugro Trenching, 2015 leadership winners, Wind work around North America 14 COMPONENTS How a coil spring improves lube seals 18 RELIABILITY Building a framework for better floating wind systems 22 BOLTING Is a maintenance-free bolt connection possible on wind turbines? 26 FINANCE Rise of renewables spells…

WINDPOWER Engineering and Development – Welcome to the Handbook Editor’s welcome to the wind section…………. p.09 Wind Basics……………………………………………. p.10 Top wind stats and resource map………………. p.12 Components of a wind turbine………………….. p.16 Wind articles Bearings……………………………………………………p.18 Blades………………………………………………………p.21 Bolting……………………………………………………..p.24 Cables………………………………………………………p.27 Composites……………………………………………….p.30 Gears & gearboxes…………………………………….p.32 Encoders…………………………………………………..p.34 Motors & drives…………………………………………p.37 Hydraulics…………………………………………………p.38 Slip rings…………………………………………………..p.42 Switchgear………………………………………………..p.46 Filters……………………………………………………….p.48 Lubricants…………………………………………………p.51 Site assessment…………………………………………p.54 Logistics…

Are you ready for your cyber attack? The nature of warfare changes constantly. Static trench warfare played a big role in WWI, but improved air power and a more mobile battle tank brought much greater fluidity to WWII, making trenches obsolete. Later wars erased the idea of a front line altogether. WWII more importantly, became…

In this Issue: Digital twins and JIT training chop costs off O&M Home sweet bat home Gold wind 2.5 MW DD

Featured in Windpower Engineering and Development June 2015 Innovation & Influencers Issue Software: Online classes that count Lidar just for yaw correction Drones as blade inspectors now, other services soon