Get your towers here. The one damaged turbine tower, dropped while unloading, will probably be turned into scrap. The other nine however, are ready for service under a turbine or elsewhere.

Broadwind Energy announced $8 million in new wind-tower orders from a U.S. turbine manufacturer. The towers will be produced in Broadwind’s Manitowoc, Wisconsin facility for 2016 delivery. The company strongly credits the renewal of the Production Tax Credits (PTC) for the new contract. “The production tax credit that was passed just a few weeks ago…

As a growing number of wind energy assets across Europe near the end of their operational lifetimes, plans to upgrade and repower existing sites using larger, more efficient turbines depend on the ability of developers to accurately assess the wind resource at higher hub heights. However, current methods of data extrapolation from short onsite met…

As one of the world’s largest research organizations, Research and Markets recently announced the availability of the  “Analyzing the Global Market for Wind Turbine Towers” report. This research analyzes the global market for wind-turbine towers and is divided into five sections. The report begins by analyzing the global wind-power industry through an analysis of related technology and a look…

Vestas is implementing its plan to create a more flexible and scalable business to adapt the company to the uncertain market situation in the wind industry. Part of this plan is to more effectively use the existing production capacity. This new agreement is a step in securing this. The agreement means Vestas will ramp up…

Commerce finds dumping and subsidization of imports of utility scale wind towers from the People’s Republic of China and dumping of imports of utility scale wind towers from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.  The AD and CVD laws provide U.S. businesses, workers, and farmers with a transparent and internationally approved mechanism to seek relief from…

Google doesn’t mess around when it comes to investments. Their sponsorship in a transmission project that could cost billions of dollars stands as a major voucher for the wind industry. One of the greatest hurdles to the renewable-energy industry’s growth is the nation’s outdated transmission system. Without a beefed-up transmission backbone, offshore wind developers would…

If money were less of an object, developers would always put the largest turbines on the tallest towers possible. That would ensure the highest possible capacity factors from about 5-MW units and give a significant boost to power production. It would also, however, be costly. To find the right mix of turbines for the wide…

Towers for wind turbines have done a good a job hiding their high-tech origins. For instance, their sections–humbly called cans–are rolled from flat-sheet steel into precise, yet slightly tapered cones and then welded by CNC machines. More CNC machine tools drill holes and attach flanges that allow connecting cans. But for all their sophistication the…

Brakes in a wind turbine perform several jobs. They hold blade pitch steady and keep the nacelle pointing in the right direction. Also, that one big disc brake – up to now on the gearbox’s high-speed output shaft to control over over-speed –had better hold everything still when violent storms pass. As OEMs build larger…

Michael Schratz Dialight Corp. www.dialight.com AWEA recently reported that, despite significant challenges in 2010, the U.S. wind-power industry made significant progress on its promise to strengthen America’s position with an increased supply of renewable energy. The organization says all signs point to a strong return in 2011. With an aggressive target of supplying 20% of…

https://www.windpowerengineering.com/5803/

Placing wind turbines at greater hub heights puts them in stronger, steadier wind which improves their performance. Wind speed at just one more meter per second can pay off big. Turbine performance becomes a critical consideration as units with larger rotors and greater power outputs enter the market. Taller conventional steel towers, however, are too…

Vestas Towers America announced the grand opening of the world’s largest wind tower manufacturing plant. The Pueblo, Colorado facility features nearly 13 million ft2 of space and eight miles on-site railroad for the transport of materials and finished tower components. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar joined Colorado dignitaries, as well as President of Vestas Towers…

Four and five-in. diameter tilt-up towers are guyed pipe towers, and come with couplers, end fittings, cables, rigging hardware, turnbuckles, ground anchors, and optional pipe sections. All tower components (except pulleys and zinc-plated bolts, nuts, washers) are hot-dip galvanized. The towers come in heights of 64, 85, 106 and 127 ft. The 4-in. tower accomodates…

A portable mill can machine wind towers that now have diameters from 10 to 14 ft, and to a surface-flatness tolerance of 0.002 in. The Climax CM6000 mill can also create a 60 rms micro finish, exceeding the current requirements of the wind-power industry and in particular tower fabricator Hitachi Canadian Industries Ltd., Saskatoon, Saskatchewan,…

Ventower Industries has broken ground on its 115,000 ft2, state of the art, wind-tower manufacturing facility. Earlier this year, the company’s design, the Ventower, won an advanced-energy manufacturing tax credit under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The company was one of 12 to received support from Michigan’s congressional delegation. The company says…

A modular turbine tower is one way to get around the shortcomings of conventional solid section designs. Peder M. Hansen Executive Vice President Northstar Wind Towers Blair, Nebraska Taller towers for wind turbines make sense in so many ways. For instance, an 80 m tower can let modern 2 to 3-MW wind turbines produce more…