Besides wind speed, geography is also an important factor in determining where a wind farm should be erected. Whether in a mountainous area or other difficult geographical regions, the right equipment is needed to ensure optimal energy production. Alstom offers a wide range of products for the wind sector, providing solutions for most geographic and weather conditions, as well as installation and maintenance services required to ensure top performance of the wind turbines.  To read more click download.

AW-1500 is based on Acciona’s experience of operating thousands of megawatts of wind turbines worldwide in all types of conditions. It has been designed to optimize the life-cycle cost of a wind turbine, not merely the upfront capital cost.  The turbine is designed from an owner’s perspective. Features such as two bearings reducing the axial loads on the gear box, access to the inside of the hub from the nacelle, and a wider nacelle for easier serviceability.  The AW-1500 is a 1500 kW power-rated horizontal shaft wind turbine, with three blades, variable speed, 12 kV rated voltage and available in frequencies of 50 or 60 Hz.  Certified by Germanischer Lloyd (GL) for a wide range of wind types, available in IEC classifications:  classes Ia, IIa and IIIb.  To read more click download.

Today’s advanced wind turbines are three-bladed, variable speed turbines. The rotor blades are adjusted and controlled via three independent electro-mechanical propulsion units for the pitch systems. On a pitch controlled wind turbine the turbine's electronic controller checks the power output of the turbine several times per second. When the power output becomes too high, it sends an order to the blade pitch mechanism, which immediately turns the rotor blades slightly out of the wind. Conversely, the blades are turned back into the wind whenever the wind drops again.  To read more click view or download. 

The influence of atmospheric turbulence on the total kinetic energy available in the wind has been discussed for many years. Putman (1948) discussed this concept in his synopsis of the experiments carried out on the 1250 kW Smith-Putman wind turbine at Grandpa’s Knob, Vermont in the early 1940’s. Putman demonstrated through the use of the cube factor, the ratio of U 3 / 3 U , that using an hourly average wind speed to calculate the total kinetic energy available to the turbine would underestimate the actual kinetic energy by up to 14%, at the Grandpa’s knob site.  Engineers have often ignored the influence of atmospheric turbulence because of its dual influence on turbine power production. The presence of atmospheric turbulence not only increases the kinetic energy available to the wind turbine; it also tends to decrease the efficiency of the turbine at converting the kinetic energy into mechanical or electrical power.  To read more click download.

The technology developed by ACCIONA Windpower is the result of more than fourteen years of knowledge accumulated by one of the top technical teams in the world on the operation and maintenance of wind parks.  The ACCIONA Group’s experience and acumen gained from the management of wind parks containing thousands of wind turbines of different technologies installed in various countries has been the cornerstone to the successful development of our own technology.  Our experience has produced a strong, reliable and durable machine: the AW-1500.  The same design concept has been applied to the AW-3000 wind turbine, which allows us to introduce the benefits already demonstrated with the 1.5 MW machine into the multimegawatt sector.  To read more click download.

Greenworks Tower Site - located at 447 North Sacramento (near Humbolt Park), Chicago, Ill.  is comprised of a 50 foot tall wind tower supporting a 20 foot tall Aeroturbine.  This wind turbine provides power to the Christy Webber Landscape facility, a local horticulture business specializing in "green roofs".  The Christy Webber facility has several LEED's environmental and energy conversion technologies including the Aerotecture Aeroturbine.  To read more click download.

Integrating wind energy systems into building design is a small but growing trend, and high rises with their elevated wind speeds seem particularly suited to the technology. Designs that incorporate wind turbines are increasingly being seen on the drawing boards for skyscrapers across the globe. Leading the development of this fledgling field, wind engineers at CPP have evaluated the potential for wind turbine integrated buildings in both the U.S. and China. This paper will focus on a project conducted for the Discovery Tower in downtown Houston, TX, which is slated to break ground in early 2008.  To read more click download.

Mauceri Project - located at 1825 W. Wabansia (at Honore St.), Chicago, Ill. is comprised of a 3800 SF live/work space and a 1900 SF green roof and patio space sheltered by a large overhead solar array and single "cage" structure housing two 750 watt Aeroturbine Wind Turbines.  It is LEED certified rehab project, and the first of its kind in the USA in that it employs a building integrated wind electric system, an integrated solar electric array and a ground source heat pump within its well insulated and elegantly architected enclosure.  To read more click download.

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Mercy Housing in Chicago located at 1244 N. Clybourn Chicago, Ill. is comprised of a five story, 96 unit, low income residential facility run by the local affiliate of Mercy Housing, Inc. a nationwide organization.  The facility has several LEEDs environmental and energy conversion technologies in addition to the Aerotecture Aeroturbines.  To read more click download.

The survival in design-level wind events and fatigue loading of wind turbine and other wind farm structures is an integral part of wind power economics.  The design of fatigue-sensitive structures is not well represented by building code approaches.  However, aspects of wind code approaches along with well established wind engineering practices can be used to define design wind events and provide guidance to safe design procedures.  To read more click download.

Micrositing of wind turbines in complex terrain is tricky game, and many of the current siting methods and tools, while useful and improving, remain inadequate to the task in extreme terrain.  As a consequence, there are numerous wind turbine installations that are buffeted by damaging turbulence or are faced with sub-optimal wind energy performance.  To read more click download.

Alcan's ACSR/TW cable is a concentric lay-stranded conductor consisting of a stranded steel central core with one or more layers of trapezoidal shaped 1350 aluminum wires.  Steel core wires are protected from corrosion by galvanizing, aluminizing, aluminum-clad alloy or zince - 5% aluminum misch metal alloy coating.  Standard, Extra, High and Ultra High strength steel are also available in a non-specular finish.  To read more click download.

Wind power is coming of age in the United States. During the past five years, installations have grown by an average 28 percent yearly. Gleaming, high-tech wind turbines now are interconnected to the bulk power grid in some 30 states. The membership of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) has tripled in recent years and now includes such manufacturing and energy giants as General Electric, FPL Energy, Scottish-Power, and American Electric Power.  To read more click download or view.

For those pondering how to control the economics of energy and cultivate “greener” power sources, one answer is clearly “written in the wind.  ”Modern wind turbine generators have become true power plants in many places around the world. While Europe has led the way for years,U.S. participation in the wind power industry has grown considerably. It is now projected that 10% of the world’s electricity will be generated by wind power within 20 years.  To read more click download.

An atmospheric, multi-scale numerical model is combined with a boundary layer wind tunnel to form a powerful hybrid tool for evaluating wind power sites in complex terrain. The wind tunnel serves to guide the refinement, calibration, and validation of the numerical model for neutral thermal stability in a controlled, reproducible manner, and to improve wind power site assessments in the most severe terrain such as steep escarpments and cliffs where the numerical model loses accuracy.  To read more click download.

Over the last decade, the power quality market has seen the emergence of several new energy storage technologies that address immediate delivery of energy to critical loads following the interruption of utility power. These alternatives to traditional electrochemical batteries include such exotic technologies as ultra-capacitors, super-cooled electromagnets and quick-start engines augmented by hydraulic or pneumatic energy storage. More recently, the industry has seen the reintroduction of one of the oldest energy storage technologies – the flywheel. Modern flywheels take many different forms, ranging from high-tech composite wheels that rotate at ultrahigh speeds to the more traditional steel wheels that couple with existing rotating machines.  To read more click download.

The United States is home to vast quantities of clean energy resources – wind, solar, geothermal, and hydropower. Yet it lacks a modern interstate transmission grid to deliver carbon-free electricity to customers in highly populated areas of the country. President Obama has called for the United States to double the production of renewable energy in three years and to secure 25 percent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2025. Achieving this will require a cohesive effort from local, state, and federal officials and significant new investment in our transmission infrastructure. This paper will highlight the barriers that hinder investment in transmission infrastructure and identify potential policy solutions to overcome those barriers.   To read more click download.

Wind energy has been used since the earliest civilization to grind grain, pump water from deep wells, and power sailboats. Windmills in pre-industrial Europe were used for many things, including irrigation or drainage pumping, grain-grinding, saw-milling of timber, and the processing of other commodities such as spices, cocoa, paints and dyes, and tobacco. Before the U.S. installed an infrastructure of electricity wires, both water-pumping windmills and small wind electric turbines (“wind chargers”) were vital to farming and developing the American Great Plains and west.  To read more click view or download.

As the wind energy market matures and becomes more competitive, it is increasingly important that new entrants realize the full potential of their wind energy conversion system (WECS) early in their product development cycle. Traditionally, the evaluation of potential performance characteristics has been limited to full-scale prototype testing in a field environment.  To read more click download.

Windflow Technology have designed, built and installed a prototype half-megawatt wind turbine on the Port Hills of Christchurch, New Zealand. They have planned a 104 turbine windfarm near Palmerston North.  This paper describes: • the novel gearbox design, being 4-stage epicyclic, with flexible planet pins to aid load sharing, and a hydraulic torque limiter to reduce peak loads on the machinery.  • vibration monitoring, analysis of source of audible noise, and the resulting gearbox design modifications to run quieter.  • online monitoring after re-installation, including remote communications and a basic level of shutdown protection.  To read more click view or download

The main bearing(s) and rotor shaft turn at less than 30 rpm. This would also be the turning speed of the input shaft for the gearbox. With a rotational frequency less than 30 cpm (0.5 Hz), low frequency accelerometers should be used.  This will allow measurement of the main shaft rotational frequency, blade pass frequency, main bearing frequencies, and gearbox input shaft bearing frequencies and gear mesh frequencies.  To read more click view or download.