Wind turbine wakes produce invisible ripples that can affect the atmosphere and influence downstream units. Recent computer research into turbine spacing indicates about 15 rotor diameters are sufficient to dissipate wake effects and maintain the output of downwind machines. Because more detail is needed, researchers have launched a study to make the ripples visible to…

Coordinated steering wakes and ramp-down strategies based on advanced data analytics could increase annual energy production by several percentage points, say the initial findings from a joint government-industry research project.

This study by Envision shows some of the work being done to understand and control rotor wakes.

IT CAN BE TOUGH for wind farm designers to estimate wakes and how they affect downstream turbines. A variety of conventional wake models have had modest success predicting wake effects. They are now giving way to more accurate methods that make rotor wakes and airflow remarkably visible. One tool creating a bit of a stir…

WindESCo has announced the successful installation of its Swarm technology across Longroad Energy’s Milford I & II wind plants in Utah, featuring a combined capacity of 306 MW. The commissioning of Swarm at Milford marks the wind industry’s first full-scale implementation of commercial wake steering and collective control technology. Wakes at the wind farms create…

What’s good for one is not always best for all. Solitary wind turbines produce the most power when pointing directly into the wind. But when tightly packed lines of turbines face the wind on wind farms, wakes from upstream generators can interfere with those downstream. Like a speedboat slowed by choppy water from a boat…

Size matters when optimizing for wind-turbine production. Taller towers with longer blades typically capture greater, stronger winds for power generation. However, turbine size is only one important feature of a successful wind farm. Siting and turbine placement at a wind site is also critical. And according to researchers at UC Santa Barbara, wind turbines rarely…

New National Science Foundation and Department of Energy-funded research highlights a previously unexplored consequence of the global proliferation of wind energy facilities: a wake effect from upwind facilities that can reduce the energy production of their downwind neighbors. In collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), faculty at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU)…

A team of researchers from the University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) has developed a new way to extract more power from the wind. The approach has the potential to significantly increase wind-power generation with a consequent increase in revenue. Numerical simulations performed at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) indicate potential increases of…

A software developer working with NREL-conceived control modules has introduced a software-based, plant-level control platform in which all turbines on a wind farm work together to extract the maximum energy from wind streams. Developer WindWISDEM says its repowering service allows wind-farm operators in many cases to extend production Tax Credits (PTC) for an additional 10…

By Kevin Wolf / President / Wind Harvest International Wind farms in California and other regions of the world exist only in relatively small geographic regions.1 Most of these resource areas have reached their physical or political2  limits in their ability to install additional propeller-type, horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs).3 Nonetheless, many have topographies that…

A new turbine blade design is said to overcome most of the handicaps of conventional designs including cost, manufacturing complexity, and maintenance.

Failure to efficiently transfer weather risk has left wind-energy stakeholders across the globe with untapped asset values. The total: an estimated USD $56 billion. This estimate, produced by leading renewable energy underwriter, GCube Underwriting, emphasizes the long-term financial impact of wind-speed volatility on portfolio and project revenues and highlights the size of the market for…

Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are working with industry partners toward an energy future that features significant levels of reliable, affordable, and sustainable wind energy.

The 2016 Sandia Wind Turbine Blade Workshop will bring together wind energy professionals from industry, academia, and the national laboratories to discuss challenges, issues, and solutions related to wind turbine blades.

Wind-turbine optimizer ROMO Wind, together with Vattenfall, carried out a performance measurement project at Nørrekær Enge wind farm in Denmark using 13 Siemens 2.3-MW wind turbines. The goal was to compare the power-curve measurement results of an IEC-compliant met mast, a nacelle LiDAR, and the iSpin spinner anemometer. The results show that only the iSpin…

The Continuum wind-flow model (patent pending) was created to take the best of these traditionally used models and provide the wind industry with a tool that is quick and easy to use, affordably priced, and delivers reliably accurate wind speed and energy estimates.

The Carbon Trust recently announced the start of the world’s largest trial of scanning Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology, which is taking place in Dublin Bay, Ireland. This is the latest Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA) project designed to help reduce the cost of energy from offshore wind. Over the next three months the most…

The United States has enough offshore wind energy to supply its total electricity needs four times over, and as its engineers and energy companies have not exploited this potential,