Onshore Wind Farms - Cheap and Clean Energy |

Onshore wind farms now provide the least expensive form of energy, renewable or non-renewable, once the wind farm is fully constructed and operational. Among energy sources used to power a municipal grid, wind farms also have the lowest greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), and the lowest carbon footprint, of ANY energy source (given the complete lifecycle of the energy source).

Recent breakthroughs in wind turbines

Investment of research & development in wind turbines has recently made wind turbines more efficient, helped to drive down costs due to technological advancements of new wind turbines, and helped to put wind energy on a stronger footing to out-compete coal and natural gas. Breakthroughs in wind technology include the production of increasingly larger wind turbines.

Turbines are increasingly made from stronger, lighter composite materials such as carbon fiber or composite materials. New wind turbines are being produced with an increased use of strong, light, corrosion-resistant composite materials for wind turbine blade, tower, and foundation structure construction.

Recent developments in wind turbines include such technological advancements as lasers pinpointing the direction of the wind. Lasers are used so that turbine blades can optimize their productive capacity by automatically adjusting their position. Here's a brief summary of recent wind turbine optimizations:

As towers get taller, turbine blades get longer, which helps catch more wind. By turning to lighter, stronger materials, such as carbon fiber or advanced fabrics (the same composite materials used for next-generation aircraft), turbines can spin and generate power at lower speeds.

Today's turbines have sensors and precision controllers, which constantly tweak the blade position to optimize the use of the wind energy and provide information to wind farm operators. The orientation of each turbine blade is continuously adjusted as well. Intelligent controllers expose more of the blade to capture the most wind...

Improvements in weather forecasting are also increasing the output from wind farms. Accurate wind forecasts can increase the power dispatch...by having a better grip on the wind's intermittent nature."   FROM -  windenergy.org.nz/improvements-in-technology

Modern Wind Turbines - Bigger and Better

Advancements in blade design of new wind turbine blades optimize performance by maximizing energy production capacity, optimizing the flow of wind turbine blades, and decreasing drag. Many new wind turbines on the global market are also manufactured with an increased length of wind turbine blades.

New wind turbines also have increased power generating capacity, compared to wind turbines produced last decade. GE recently unveiled a 12 MW offshore wind turbine (now being developed as 12,13, or even 14 MW units)- the Haliade-X. The Haliade-X is being developed for use in new European offshore wind farm projects, and offshore wind farms in the US as well.

How Do New Wind Turbines Address the Intermittency Issue?

Two types of technologies in particular address intermittency of wind; as well as energy storage concerns, factors which have held wind back in the past. Industrial smart systems in new, advanced tech wind farms send data to wind farm operators, allowing operators to predict wind strength, times of stronger wind activity, and wind direction. With these smart systems, turbine operators can program optimal position for turbines based on the forecasted wind speed, time, and direction.

In addition, renewable energy storage technologies store excess electricity when more energy is produced by the wind than what is needed. Energy storage is needed with wind farm in order to feed energy back into the grid when the wind slows down, or the wind stops blowing for a time.

Here is a snippet from Bloomberg Green on the new GE Haliade-X wind turbine, as well as other large wind turbines now in development-

"Since GE debuted its own 12-megawatt Haliade-X turbine in March 2018, the machine has racked up numerous orders, including for the world’s biggest offshore wind farm that will be built off the coast of England [specifically for Dogger Bank C, the 1.2GW third phase of the 3.6GW Dogger Bank Wind Farm), and cut into the business that’s been dominated by Siemens Gamesa and to a lesser extent by MHI Vestas Offshore Wind A/S.

The Siemens Gamesa [14-megawatt] turbine, which the company’s calling SG 14-222 DD, will be ready for a prototype in 2021 and commercially available in 2024. With the new machine cutting off GE’s claim on the world’s biggest windmill, Siemens Gamesa will be well positioned to solidify its position as the market leader."   FROM -  bloomberg.com/battle-over-world-s-biggest-wind-turbine-is-heating-up

Related wind energy articles>>>

windpowerengineering.com/new-advances-in-wind-turbine-components

bbc.com/is-wind-powers-future-in-deep-water

nesgt.com/what-does-the-future-of-wind-turbine-technology-look-like-for-engineers

Please also see:

Amazon wind farms

London Array - paving the way for efficient offshore wind energy farms

Anholt Offshore Wind Farm — Denmark’s most powerful source of renewable energy

The Block Island Wind Farm - America's 1st operational offshore wind farm