Like stately giants, utility wind turbines are appearing further afield and offshore. As designers tackle the job of building longer, heavier, higher performing turbine blades, wind-farm operators and owners are faced with a different challenge– keeping aging blades in optimum condition. Traditionally, less attention has been paid to the repair and upkeep of turbine blades…

Fraser McLachlan CEO GCube Insurance services, Inc. Newport Beach, California www.gcube-insurance.com The insurance market thought it had a bad 12 months with Australian fires and floods, plus the New Zealand Earthquake. Then Japan happened. The world is still reeling from the horrific damage and loss of life due to the March earthquake and tsunami. Governments,…

What do the areospace and wind industries have in common? They both depend on high-performance steel. Illinois-based QuesTek Innovations LLC (www.questek.com) has developed two types of gear steels that are already commercially available and in use in aerospace applications, but are suitable for wind-turbine gearboxes as well. Ferrium C61 and C64 are high-performance, double-vacuum-melted steels…

Oliver Hirschfelder Global Wind Energy Director Capital Safety Red Wind. Minn. www.capitalsafety.us The World Wind Energy Association forecasts that the wind energy industry will employ one million people by 2012. This means wind power is becoming one of the largest sources of new electricity generation. As the market grows with more turbines on towers, so…

A 36-MW storage system will soon be the world’s largest power-storage device linked to a wind farm. The $44 million battery and controls will go into operation Q3-2012, says North Carolina-based Duke Energy Corp. Xtreme Power manufactures dry-cell batteries for use with the variable delivery from wind farms and solar projects. The system will store…

Paul Pilotte Technical marketing Manager Mathworks Natick, mass. www.mathworks.com Managing a wind-farm portfolio is a promising renewable energy business, but operators face risks and challenges. Wind farm operators selling power to wholesale electricity markets are looking for ways to maximize profits and reduce revenue uncertainty. To do so, they need software tools to analyze historical…

Nick Harper Applications Manager Blade Sensing Systems Moog Inc. www.Moog.com   Cold weather presents special problems for wind turbines. Inside the nacelle, low-viscosity lubricants keep the gearbox turning and enclosure seals to keep moisture and ice off electronic components. But outside the nacelle, things are different. Ice easily forms on turbine blades possibly adding hundreds…

Many companies make the same mistake every year assuming their torque tools are accurate and in working order. They also assume factory torque charts are correct and a certified gauge ensures tool accuracy. It’s a hazardous assumption because calibrated power tools frequently are not performing as expected. Although there are other ways of establishing the…

The largest wind turbines have a capacity of 5 to 7 MW. After five years of research at the joint European project, UpWind, led by Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy and the Technical University of Denmark, presented a first design basis for developing turbines of 20 MW. The project started five years ago with…

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…

Rotor Clip says its Ventus spiral retaining ring series can withstand the rigors placed on wind turbine components by high wind speeds and other functional stresses. Thus, the component helps reduce costly downtime. A machined lug hole, designed to accommodate Rotor Clip’s V-Orbis tool, makes field installation easier than traditionally designed spiral rings, which cannot…

Many remote locations could benefit from a few extra kilowatts now and then. Inventor Matt Bennet has devised a way to provide extra energy in a trailer mounted airborne wind-energy device. In a nutshell, a large airfoil pulls two long tethers wrapped around a drum to drive a generator and store about 12 kW in…

Set a Google Alert for “windpower” and it finds many stories – some are positive, some critical, and some quite unfair. Fair criticism from honest people can be useful because it lets then you know what issues to address. But a lot of the criticism aimed at the wind industry is based on half truths…

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…

Sliprings work in the turbine’s hub where they transmit power and signals from stationary cables in the nacelle to rotating equipment in the hub. A slip-ring assembly is often a graphite or precious metal brush that contacts the outside diameter of a rotating metal ring. As the ring turns, electrical current or signal is conducted…

When considering safety concerns with wind turbines, two main topics come to the top—technician safety and turbine safety. Technician safety prevention typically revolves around protective clothing, climb-assist technologies, and best practices in the field. Technician Safety Increasingly, companies are using rope-access techniques to perform work on wind turbines. Rope access technicians are highly-trained individuals providing…

Global lubricant demand is forecast to reach 40.5 million metric tons in 2012. According to a recent study, the market is estimated at $48.8 billion. Companies in this booming market are expanding their lubricant lines to include those for more industries such as wind. Wind equipment requires specialized lubricants. For instance, they may require certain…

Wind-power generators fall into three primary types—induction, permanent magnet, and superconducting. Induction generators, sometimes referred to as asynchronous generators, have dominated the market for years due to their low manufacturing costs and extensive experience in the power-generation industry. However, in recent years generators implementing rare-earth, permanent magnets made from neodymium have gained some market share.…

Oil quality is a decisive factor for gearbox service life, but changing it is time consuming and costly. Thus, turbine operators are always looking for ways to stretch oil-change intervals. At least two companies have developed methods to monitor and maintain oil to extend service life. Gearbox wear is usually determined by operating conditions and…

Wind turbines, like helicopters, are fatigue machines—always vibrating and working to loosen their fasteners. More vibration will come as engineers develop longer blades to capture more wind energy and towers reach higher to accommodate them. These increased vibration levels will loosen some tower fasteners. To prevent this, engineers are looking for better ways to measure…