Editor’s note: If you did not pay close attention to developments in superconductivity, you might think it’s all just research. Actually, a few superconducting products are slowly coming to commercialization. The program review here provides a peek into generator design from the Navy’s perspective. Success for the Navy means more efficient wind turbines. The review…

Editor’s note: Superconducting generators and motors are some ways off, maybe a decade. But wire with the quality of superconduction might be closer and more useful, hence the significance of this report. A University of Houston engineering researcher and his team have received $900,000 in additional funding from the DOE for a wind-energy project that…

GE Global Research, the technology development arm of GE, says it has begun work on the first phase of a 2-year, $3 million project from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a next generation wind-turbine generator that could support applications in the 10 to 15-MW range. “With the industry’s quest for higher megawatt machines…

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu says six projects have been selected to receive nearly $7.5 million over two years to advance next-generation designs for wind turbine drivetrains. These R&D projects will focus on reducing the cost of wind energy by increasing component reliability or redesigning drivetrains to eliminate need for some components altogether.  Each project…