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Wind Power

: See also News:Wind

Directory of wind technologies and resources. Also called "eolic".

Compiled primarily by Congress:Founder:Sterling D. Allan

Overviews

: &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp "The power of the wind has been overlooked. Some day it will be forcibly brought to the position it deserves through the need of a substitute for the present method of generating power. Given a good breeze, I have estimated that there is as much as half a horsepower to every square foot of area exposed. The contrivance that has been at the disposal of mankind from all time, the wind-mill, is now seen in the rural districts only. The popular mind cannot grasp the power there is in the wind." -- PowerPedia:Nikola Tesla ("Our future motive power" Everyday Science and Mechanics Dec. 1931)

Wind Could Provide 5X World Energy Needs - A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science estimates the earth's capacity for wind power if plausible areas were put to use with 2.5-MW wind turbines, and 3.6-MW off-shore turbines (within 50 nautical miles in ocean depths less than 200 meters) showed that wind energy could provide over forty times the world's current electrical consumption and over five times the global use of total energy needs. (Mongabay June 22, 2009)

Salient White Elephant - Circular Wind Dam, Very High Capacity Factor Wind Turbine, novel and nearly foolproof lightning protection, Darrieus with Inverting Pitched Asymmetric Airfoil, Helically Stacked Darrieus Rotors (the only practical way to design a large VAWT with helical blades)... The list goes on and on! More than 100 suggestions for improved wind turbine designs that are both very unusual and yet very practical and workable.

Plans

See Directory:Wind:Plans - Separate index page.

Wind Energy Technologies

Artificial Pressure Difference

Directory:Shinyeon Energy Research Center - Shinyeon Energy Research Center of Korea has two highly exotic prototypes. One is a piston-based permanent magnet motor called the Magforce engine, that doesn't require fuel or electricity. The other as a tower-based induction wind generator. (PESWiki June 18, 2008)

Bladeless

Directory:Wind > Bladeless Windmill from Delft - This structure, installed at the Delft University of Technology, is a model of a machine that would convert wind to energy without any moving parts -- any mechanical moving parts, at least. The technology, developed by the Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science faculty at Delft, uses the movement of electrically charged water droplets to generate power.(News:Pure Energy Blog April 1, 2013)

Bumblebee Design

Directory:Mimicking Living Organisms > Green Wavelength unveils bumblebee inspired wind turbine - Green Wavelength's 19-foot, aluminum and carbon fiber prototype known as XBee can be mounted both vertically and horizontally and the blades move in a figure eight motion. The design is expected to improve annual energy output, though the exat efficiency has not yet been fully tested. They are targeting an output of between 1 and 10 kW. (See video) (GizMag November 5, 2009)

Direct Drive

Americas Wind Energy on Direct Drive Technology

Siemens New 3.6 MW Direct-drive - Siemens Energy will install a highly innovative 3.6-megawatt (MW) direct drive "concept" turbine developed by Chief Technology Officer Henrik Stiesdal, at a location near Ringkoebing, Denmark, where it will undergo a two-year test period. (Renewable Energy Worldwide July 4, 2008)

Engines

Latest / Directory:Best Exotic Clean Energy Technologies: Directory:Wind > Directory:Air > Directory:Engines > Directory:Ambient Air Engines > Directory:Cogar International Energy Corporation - The technology apparently involves a closed-looped air flow, with a jet engine producing wind, and with propellers to harness the wind produced. It sounds like a classical perpetual motion boondoggle, but the inventor is sure he has a way to tap into external energy in the process. Recent independent testing showed an efficiency of 105%, with 190 kW input producing 200 kW output. (PESWiki & Pure Energy Blog April 6, 2013)

HeliWind

HeliWind

Lighter-than-air helical balloon. Power generator placed on the ground. Runs silently with no bird or bat kills. Generates electricity for 3.4¢/Kw-Hr: less than 50% the cost of oil and less than 25% the cost of a conventional wind turbine.

High-Efficiency Horizontal Axis

Directory:High-Efficiency Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (Separate page) - Some new wind turbine designs claim to exceed the Betz law theoretical maximum of 59% efficiency, with projected energy costs at or below grid rates.

Horizontal Aerofoils

Directory:Wind > New style turbine to harvest wind energy - A new way of generating wind energy which could see smaller, more efficient turbines on the landscape is being developed by a Derbyshire inventor with support from Nottingham Trent University. The Wind Harvester is based on a reciprocating motion that uses horizontal aerofoils similar to those used on aeroplanes. It is virtually noise-free and can generate electricity at a low speed, and it is operational at higher wind speeds than current wind turbines. (WindDaily February 1, 2012)

Hybrids

Directory:Wind > Hybrid Wind Turbines Can Generate Power Even When the Wind Isn't Blowing - A Colorado company is introducing a system that will allow wind turbines to generate power even when the wind is not blowing. The SmartGen hybrid gas-wind turbine enables wind turbines to produce energy at periods of low wind, by turning the turbine with compressed air generated at the base of the tower from a turbo-compressor that is run on natural gas or biogas. (EcoGeek Aug. 26, 2010)

Kites & Sails

KiteLab

Skysails - Plus - Top 10 Green Ship Designs- A freighter’s fuel consumption can be cut by 10 percent to 15 percent if a kite is used to pull the ship. (Site shows video) (gCaptain Jan. 27, 2008)

Hybrid Boats and Ships - SkySails is testing a high-tech kite to pull ship along, designed to be a retrofit for existing vessels. Copenhagen group trying airfoils on cargo ships. Danish group implementing aerospace tech for airfoils on ships. SolarSalor implements movable wing-like solar panels that double as sails. (Alt-Energy-Blog Feb. 24, 2005)

go fly a kite...across the sea - Wind can be a powerful source of energy (Video) - so powerful that it could one day power large sea-liners. Click to take a look at how something as simple as a parafoil could soon help propel some really large ships across the ocean. (SkySail) (DiscoveryChannel.ca March 30, 2005)

KiteShip - Very Large Free Flying Sails (VLFFS) for boats and ships provide up to 10,000 horsepower of controlled, inexpensive power from wind energy, to reduce ship owners' fuel costs by up to 25 percent, and vastly reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and pollutants.

Largest

Free Energy Blog:2015:12:11 - Hub height: 135 m, rotor diameter: 126 m can generate up to 7.58 megawatts of power per turbine. The list price of one unit is $14 million plus install costs. (Free Energy Blog December 11, 2015)

MagLev

Directory:MagLev Wind Power Generator - World's first permanent magnetic levitation wind power generator is expected to boost generation capacity by as much as 20% over traditional wind turbines, dropping operational costs by as much as 50%.

Directory:Enviro Energies - Magnetically levitated wind turbine technology - reducing friction, noise, vibration and energy loss.

Colossal Magnetic Levitation Wind Turbine Proposed - MagLev Wind Turbine Technologies claims that it can deliver clean power for less than one cent per kilowatt hour using a magnetically levitated wind turbine that can generate one gigawatt of power, by reducing frictional losses. A single huge turbine would require only a fraction of the land space of conventional turbines. (TreeHugger Jul. 27, 2007)

Magnus Effect

Mehmeto?lu - Wind turbine with cylindrical blades is claimed to produce 30% more energy than similar types of turbines with the same input energy level. The video was taken under 4 m/ sec. wind conditions.

New prototype The function of this generator is that two or more cylinders are rotating in their own axis by giving some inferior quantity of energy. With the help of the wind stream the cylinders are causing the so-called Magnus-Effect and are turning in a constant circle.

Directory:Magenn - Inflatable, rotating balloon, wind turbine design had expected to be read for market readiness in 2006 (haven't made it yet) at a price close to grid power.

Magnus Turbine Generates Power at a Low Cost - MECARO launched production of the Vortes-model wind turbine, based on the principle of the Magnus effect, enabling the turbine to turn using lift generated by spinning cylinders with spiral fins instead of the usual propeller-like blades. The lift of the Vortes is four times that of conventional propeller-type wind turbines, and the turbine operates at any wind speed. (Japan for Sustainability Jul. 21, 2007)

Micro Turbine

NANO VENT-SKIN: CO2 Filtering Solar Micro-turbines! - Nano VentSkin Agustin Otegui, who works with economies of a much smaller scale. He has conceived of a next-gen Nano Vent-Skin that sheathes structures in a shimmering solar weave studded with micro-turbines. The concept takes advantage of a structure’s maximum available surface space, and its modular composition allows it to retrofit our old buildings instead of pouring resources into new ones. (Inhabitat June 4, 2008)

Directory:MotorWind:Pastic Micro Wind Turbines - Engineers have developed a new micro wind turbine that can generate electricity at low wind speeds, on rooftops and balconies of crowded cities. Plastic gearwheels are linked to one another and can be arranged in an array from two to thousands of square meters. A set of 20 gearwheels costs about $25. (TreeHugger Mar. 19, 2007)

Directory:Home Generation:Wind Turbine - Small wind turbines are now being designed to minimize noise and vibration, allowing rooftop mounting. Vertical axis designs are suited to the turbulent air flow around buildings.

Pocket-Sized Wind Generator for Cell Phone - Small device generates 3-4 watts of electricity from wind. Hand crank option a probable add-on. Once commercialized would cost around $4.00. (Slashdot Rediff Feb. 24, 2005)

Wind-powered Wi-Fi Sensors and Other Remote Devices p A 10-centimeter diameter windmill can produce the 7.5 milliwatts needed for a wireless sensor. Has application for other remote devices as well. (Slashdot Nov. 2005)

Misc.

Directory:Wind > Barros & Pereira's cross-wind_bridge - As vehicles cruise down the road, they kick up a wind that designers Barros & Pereira propose to harness via a from a network of 2,188 light-weight rotating panels on a pedestrian bridge to power the bridge lights at night -- a sort of wind tax on the passing vehicles. (Design Boom Oct. 26, 2009 thanks Alt Energy News)

Oscillating Wing

Wings for Wind Energy - W2 Energy Development may have a more efficient answer for capturing wind energy, based on up-and-down oscillation of a wing attached to a lever. The WindWing puts more surface area in contact with the wind than a propeller, and the lever magnifies the wind power, providing 40% to 60% efficiency, W2 reports. (VenturaCountyStar Aug. 5, 2007)

EconoLogica - Rotary windmills are so badly matched to pumping water that they convert only about 10% of the windpower they could capture into usefully pumped water. Their cranking cannot vary the stroke of the pump with windspeed. Variable stroke is inherent in our oscillating wing'dmills, as is our high wind protection, neither needing fallible add-on mechanisms.

Vortex Oscillation Technology - Wind-generators with oscillating actuating bodies (wingmills) can produce several times lower cost electric power. It is possible to produce generators from 0.1 Kw up to 100 Mw, from wind, rivers, tide and sea currents.

BioPower Systems - O-DRIVE™ converts low-speed large-torque oscillations to AC power.

Piezoelectrics

Directory:Wind > Directory:Wind / Directory:Wind Farms / Directory:Piezoelectric > Windstalk concept is a wind farm without the turbines - An interesting Windstalk concept devised by New York design firm Atelier DNA could overcome the aesthetics and vibrations contentions to wind farms while still allowing a comparable amount of electricity to be generated by the wind. The array of densely arranged poles are packed with a stack of piezoelectric ceramic discs. Fluid in the base of the poles would turn turbines. (GizMag October 13, 2010)

Wind-Generated Electricity Using Flexible Piezoelectrics (pdf) - Flexible piezoelectric bimorph flaps in the wind like a flag. Bending stresses caused by flapping generate charges and hence voltages. Estimated efficiency 0.01 - 0.1%

A Novel Method of Harvesting Wind Energy through Piezoelectric Vibration for Low-Power Autonomous Sensors - As a piezoelectric fan is powered by an AC power source, wind flow is generated by the flapping of the piezoelectric fan. Using the reverse effect of the piezoelectric fan for electrical power generation, when wind flows past the flexible piezoelectric bimorph flaps, bending stresses caused by flapping generate charges and hence electrical voltages at the output of the piezoelectric flaps.

Directory:Rick Dickson:Wind Tree - Imagine harnessing the power of hundreds of leaves fluttering in the wind. Richard Dickson is developing a passive wind harvesting technology that uses piezoelectric materials woven into textile-like material to form artificial leaves for a bio-mimicking "tree".

Directory:Piezoelectric / Directory:Solar / Directory:Wind > Piezo-Photovoltaic Device Creates Electricity From Wind/Rain/Sun - A new device that harvests energy from raindrops, winds or sunlight has been invented at the Institute for Materials Research and Innovation at the University of Bolton, UK. Elias Siores led a team who created a special polymer with piezoelectric and photosensitive properties. (Green Optimistic June 15, 2011)

Portable

Directory:Wind > Directory:Wind > Mobile Wind Turbine Could Provide Portable Power On-Call - The mobile wind turbine by Pope Design is designed to be deployed where energy is needed and wind is ample. The carrier itself is an electric vehicle powered by the wind energy storage, with a hybrid diesel generator just in case. (Inhabitat Oct. 1, 2010) Directory:Wind > Eolic: A Foldable, Portable Wind Turbine - The carbon fiber and aluminum turbine is still in the concept stages, but we imagine that the Eolic could be useful in developing countries or in disaster situations where on-the-grid power isn’t available. If it’s quiet enough, the Eolic might also be popular among energy-conscious homeowners. (Inhabitat Jan. 21, 2010)

Tesla Turbine

Congress:Top 100 Technologies -- RD: Directory:Wind > Directory:Vertical Axis Wind Turbines >Directory:TESNIC - The TESNIC is based on the principles of the Tesla turbine, extracting the wind power via adhesion, in addition to the classic drag and lift extraction, enabling it to achieve a very high efficiency, with the potential cost of electricity produced below the utility price.

Directory:Tesla Turbines / Directory:Wind > Ultra-Efficient Bladeless Wind Turbine Inspired by Nikolai Tesla - SolarAero recently unveiled a new bladeless wind turbine that offers several advantages over current wind turbines — it emits hardly any noise in operation, has few moving parts, and since it doesn’t use spinning blades it’s much less of a hazard to bats and birds. (Inhabitat May 6, 2010)

Variable Blade

Mass Megawatts Wind Power - The Multi-Axis Turbosystem (MAT) is capable of generating electricity at 2.5 cents per kilowatt-hour at an average wind speed of 15.5 miles per hour. It can withstand 120 mile per hour winds, and level four earthquakes.

Energy Unlimited - Variblade™ - variable length blade is proven to increase productivity in low winds and reduce strain in high winds. It can increase capacity of a turbine by up to 20-40 percent in low winds while reducing unproductive load in higher winds. Replacing standard blades with the Variblade can turn a 108 kW machine into 140 kW overnight.

Eotheme Sàrl Switzerland - CRWT (Counter Rotating Wind Turbine) has some advantages: Effective reduction of electricity cost by 8% to 12%. Competitive efficiency enhancement by 20% to 22%. Enhancement of “farm power density? (i.e. more power and revenue from the same surface of wind farm or same infrastructure cost).

Vertical Axis

Directory:Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (separate page) - Vertical axis turbines have several advantages over the typical horizonal axis turbines. Generator can be on the ground for easier access, rather than up in the air. Generally begin rotating at lower speeds and are quieter. Lower susceptibility to cross-winds.

Former Soviet Weapon Designers Take On Wind Power - Vertical axis wind turbine systems have several advantages over more traditional horizontal axis wind turbines. They scale down more efficiently, are usually quieter, and have a much lower rate of bird kills. (WorldChanging August 22, 2004)

Waters Effect

Latest: Directory:Wind > There was an error working with the wiki: Code[1] > Directory:Waters Effect Turbine - Years ago, FE activist, leader, and inventor, Directory:Michael (Mike) Waters conceived of a wind turbine design that is ridiculously simple. It's basically a squirrel cage arrangement 90-degrees perpendicular to the incoming air, diverting all the incoming air to the perimeter where the torque is. Duh! (PESWiki June 29, 2015)

Wind Ribbon

Directory:Humdinger Windbelt - Invented by Shawn Frayne, the Windbelt is a taut membrane fitted with a pair of magnets that oscillate between coils. Designed for low wind speeds and budgets, the device is 10x to 30x times more efficient than the best microturbines, and its cost is proportionately small.

Wind Tower

Directory:Wind > Massive Energy-Generating Wind Tower Proposed for Japan - Japan-based ZENA Systems is developing a new type of wind energy generator that will dwarf anything before it. The 50 meter-tall hexagonal building essentially acts as a huge scoop that compresses wind from all directions and then runs the rushing air through a series of ground-based generators. (Inhabitat January 6, 2011)

Gedayc

GEDAYC is a new concept of wind turbines with blades and Kites 50% more efficient than propeller models.

Thanks to its design and the wide range of wind that generates energy from weak to very strong winds.

The idea is to create a logistics company that manages the design, manufacture and sale of wind turbines of 500 KW GEDAYC whose innovative design makes it equivalent in performance (KW / Year) siblings older than 2 MW, due to its ability to generate power with winds weaker and stronger than propeller models.

Gedayc a new wind turbine

Commercial

Directory:Urban Green Energy - Fast growing international supplier, designer, and manufacturer of wind turbines.

SWIFT Wind Turbines - Renewable Devices Swift Turbines Ltd. has developed the SWIFT Wind Turbine, the world’s first quiet, building-mountable wind turbine, capable of providing a cost-effective renewable energy source for domestic, community and industrial use. Developed in Scotland and manufactured and distributed in the US by [cascadeng.com Cascade Engineering]. (Cascade Engineering Jan. 5, 2009)

IQWind - The IQWind flagship product is a new and unique gear system that solves the variable wind limitation. It is a mechanical add on to wind turbines that enables the upgraded turbines to work at much higher efficiency rates than current turbines under the same wind conditions. In addition, the IQWind solution is more reliable, lighter, and enables generation of higher quality electricity than other potential solutions.

Billionaire Texas oilman spend $58m on alternative energy campaign - The Pickens Plan, as the 80-year old has dubbed his effort, would involve an estimated $1tn government investment to substitute wind for the 22% of US electricity now derived from natural gas. (The Guardian July 9, 2008)

Latest: Directory:Videos > Directory:Wind / There was an error working with the wiki: Code[1] - Former oilman, Billionaire T. Boone Pickens, invites you to 1) sign a petition telling Senator Obama and Senator McCain to adopt the Pickens Plan to break our oil addiction, 2) come up with a < 60 sec energy ad to push the candidates to endorse the Plan. Deadline: Oct. 25. (PESWiki Oct 22, 2008)

Ming Yang - Produces energy efficient wind turbines - China.

AltE Store > Buy Wind Turbines - "Low prices on wind turbines for home, business, boat, rv, farm."

WindBrokers.com - "First-class, second-hand wind turbines from Western-Europe."

Windports™ - The turbine effect windmill can withstand winds of 200 km/h when standard propeller units must be stopped at winds of 70 km/h. Absolutely noise free and without vibrations. Captures all 3 vectors of the wind when conventional windmills only capture one.

REPower Systems - With a rated power of 5 megawatt and a rotor diameter of 126 metres, the 5M is one of the largest and most powerful wind turbines in the world.

Wind Turbine Harnesses Aerodynamics of Buildings - Aero Vironment, which engineered GM's EV-1, has unveiled a compact wind turbine that sits on the parapets of a building rather than the roof, catching the wind as it travels up the side of a building, resulting in as much as 30% increase in energy production. It requires only a 7 mph (3.1 m/s) breeze to start up, and produces roughly 55kWh per month per unit. (TreeHugger Oct. 2, 2006)

Directory:Wind:Skystream > Wind Energy Goes Mainstream with New Residential Small Wind Generator - Skystream 3.7™ is the first fully integrated wind generator designed specifically for the grid-connected residential market. The output would provide 40 to 90 percent of an average home’s energy needs. In states like Hawaii, where the cost of energy and wind speeds are both high, Skystream 3.7 can pay for itself in less than 4 years. (Southwest Windpower June 27, 2006)

Krystal Planet to distribute Magenn’s “Airborne Wind Turbines?? - Krystal Planet will use its marketing infrastructure to sell and install Magenn's new aloft-floating wind turbines, set for production in 2005. (PESN Jan. 11, 2005)

WindPartnersBg - - Used wind turbines 225kW - 1.5MW - Mediator and consultant for used wind turbines up to 1.5MW for Bulgaria only.

SkyBuilt aims to be the Dell of renewable energy systems - If you have a unique power need that is off grid, and you want something that can deploy quickly, is rugged, and will last for a long time, SkyBuilt is who you call. The CIA shouldn't be the only one to benefit. (PESN Oct. 20, 2005)

Bergey Windpower Company - "the world's leading supplier of small wind turbines for homes, businesses, and off-grid."

John Deere Credit Wind Energy - Currently, John Deere Wind Energy is interested in investments that involve utility-scale wind projects. This generally includes projects that involve multiple wind turbines with a manufacturer’s nameplate capacity of 1.25 megawatts or greater.

Electric Pinwheels LLC - New type of small wind turbine/generator using a fabric blade structure. Available in a wide variety of colors, and even a transparent version. The result is a safer, aesthetically-pleasing alternative to other forms of wind power.

Government & Politics

Wind Energy Multiyear Program Plan For 2007 - 2012 - The Wind Energy Program is one element of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Wind and Hydropower Technology Program (WHTP) under the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). EERE leads the Federal government’s research, development, and deployment efforts in energy efficiency and renewable energy. 115-page PDF. 2.2 MB. (PDAFku.com Nov. 29, 2008)

Bush would Break U.S. Oil Addiction with Renewables, Nuclear, Coal - Details of the energy policy laid out in the State of the Union address, and comments on ramifications for the various alt. energy sectors. (Environmental News Service Feb. 1, 2006)

As a Decoy

Latest: Directory:Organizations / Directory:Strategy / Directory:Wind > New wind company willing to use their turbines as a decoy for exotic energy roll-out - A company out of southern California has an ideal name for exotic free energy roll-out, and their present focus on a new wind turbine design gives them a place to conceal working exotics to help the turbine performance, while enabling a toe-hold for exotic modality advancement, both in credibility and revenue. (PESN August 14, 2013)

Used Wind Turbine Market

http://WindPartnersBG.com - Used wind turbines for sale - Buying and selling of second-hand wind turbines, worldwide. Erection and restart-up of the turbines at new locations. Reconditioning (overhaul) of second-hand wind turbines, followed by 1(one) year warranty.

Finding a Second Life for Retired Wind Turbines - Aeronautica Windpower, a Massachusetts-based company, is hoping to refurbish and find new homes for hundreds of wind turbines that are being retired from the large wind farms of California. (Renewable Energy World July 1, 2008)

Other

The remarkable first race for wind-powered vehicles - The Dutch town of Den Helder held the “Aeolus Race??, the first for wind-powered vehicles. The winning Ventomobile from Stuttgart University was the clear winner, running at an amazing 64% of wind speed directly into the wind. (GizMag Sept. 7, 2008)

Gyro Energy - GyroTorque, also known as GVT (Gyroscopic Variable Transmission) is an infinitely variable transmission that facilitates greater capture and control of input energy from wind & wave resources to reduce the cost of power generation. See also Directory:Transmissions - Other efficient transmission designs.

Directory:Theo Jansen:StrandBeest Kinetic Sculptor - Modern-day DaVinci-like genius has been building various contraptions that walk along via the power of the wind. Made from commonly available tools like plastic tubing, cardboard boxes, plastic bottles, hose, and tape, they combine engineering with art.

Past Developments

See Directory:Wind:Past Developments (separate index page) - includes past coverage and history.

Research & Development

Better Wind Turbines - ExRo Technologies, a startup based in Vancouver, BC, has developed a new kind of generator that's well suited to harvesting energy from wind. It could lower the cost of wind turbines while increasing their power output by 50 percent. (''MIT Technology review Nov. 13, 2008)

Important Wildlife Work Underway at Iberdrola Wind Farm on Former Coal Mine - In a groundbreaking effort to study the interaction between bats and wind turbines, Iberdrola has partnered with an independent conservation group, Bat Conservation International (BCI), for wildlife data collection at the facility, which is located in southwestern Pennsylvania. (Renewable Energy World Oct. 22, 2008)

Wind Turbine Concept Inspired by Jet Engines - FloDesign is working on a wind turbine concept that could potentially be at least twice as efficient as traditional rotor blade turbines, which force air around them instead of through them.(YouTube) (Alternative Energy May 29, 2008)

New - Researchers at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Institute have been developing anti-sound piezoelectric technology for wind turbines with the goal of increasing speed without the added gearbox and blade noise. (Daily Tech Aug. 12, 2008)

Ocean Wind Power Maps Reveal Possible Wind Energy Sources - Efforts to harness the energy potential of Earth's ocean winds could soon gain an important new tool: global satellite maps from NASA. Scientists have been creating maps using nearly a decade of data from NASA's QuikSCAT satellite that reveal ocean areas where winds could produce wind energy. (Happy News July 9, 2008)

Power from Thin Air - Having just provided gearless permanent magnet generator systems for a set of 3 MW wind turbines in Norway, the head of Arctic Wind Power Consortium gives the low-down on the latest hi-tech practice that is taking the large-scale turbine industry by storm. (Power Engineering International May 05, 2006)

Centripetal Dynamics - Developing a two-blade, variable camber rotor with “ALC? (Active Lift Control), Down Wind Turbine technology that will reduce the cost of energy to 3 cents/kW at Class 4 wind sites. It features a reduced drag rotating airfoil tower, flow through-hub-rotor construction, permanent magnet drivetrain and advanced composite construction.

Brushless Doubly-Fed Generator (BDFG) improves the reliability of wind turbines - A research team from the University of Cambridge have developed a new generator technology for the wind turbine industry to the point of commercial exploitation, for application in a wide spectrum of wind turbines ranging from multi-megawatt systems for wind farms down to domestic micro turbines. (PhysOrg Oct. 29, 2007)

New Low-Speed Wind Turbine Blade - “STAR", or Sweep Twist Adaptive Rotor, by Sandia National Laboratories promises to be more efficient and significantly reduce the cost-of-energy at low wind speed sites. Such sites are numerous in the U.S. and would increase by 20-fold the available land area that can be economically developed for wind energy. (TreeHugger Feb. 7, 2007)

Researchers make advances in wind energy generation - Engineers at the University of Alberta have created a wind energy generator that they hope people will one day be able to use to power their own homes. (PESN July 18, 2005)

Project to Produce Hydrogen from Wind Power - Corporacion Energia Hidroelectrica de Navarra (EHN) of Spain is investigating ways of obtaining hydrogen from water through electricity generated from wind power. (Solar Access Aug. 20, 2004)

Tools

Wind Augmentation

See Directory:Wind Augmentation - separate page

Wind Energy Storage Technology

Latest / Template: 43: Directory:Geothermal / Directory:Engines > Directory:Massive Yet Tiny (MYT) Engine > Angel Labs eyes geothermal for MYT Engine application - The MYT™ Engine as a pump/compressor purportedly exceeds existing pumps/compressors in providing massive pressure, volume, and flow -- all in one unit. This attribute makes it ideal for geothermal energy, among many other such applications. The Tesla Corporation, LLC has drilled a well on which to test this out. (PESN Mar. 11, 2010) (Comments)

Hydraulically Stored Wind Power Increases Efficiency Dramatically - a company from Alberta, Canada (Lancaster Wind Systems) wants to bring an innovation to the classic and old wind turbines. The company itself hasn’t described the exact method by which they are going to improve the efficiency of the wind turbine, but the main idea is that they’re going to store a few hours of energy in a hydraulic system, so when the wind doesn’t blow, you’ll still have energy, converted at a higher rate.

Wind Turbine Guides

Wind Power Generators Guide - Four categories within the wind power generators industry to profile including Large Scale, Large Residential, Residential Rooftop and DIY Wind Generator Plans. (Green Tech Gazette Oct. 27, 2008)

Want Your Own Wind Turbine? EcoGeek's Guide - Wind is part of the renewable energy mix, and there certainly are many homes where is is a viable option. For those, the range of options is growing. Besides the propeller turbine, there are a number of other options that are being developed and coming into availability that offer different features and performance that can make them appealing alternatives for some. (EcoGeek Sept. 11, 2008)

Slip Rings

Slip Rings for Wind Power - Slip Rings by Moog Components Group, utilize fiber brush sliding contact technology, making them a “no maintenance” rotary devices for transferring electrical power and signals and eliminates the need for common slip ring maintenance procedures such as vacuuming of brush debris, lubrication, regular inspection for wear, and brush replacement. (Engineering TV June22, 2009)

Gears and Transmissions

Directory:Wind > Torque vectoring gears for smaller, more efficient wind turbines - Torque vectoring has been used in automobile differentials, allowing the amount of power sent to each wheel to be varied. Scientists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen have now adapted this technology to wind turbines to eliminate the need for converting the alternating current produced by the turbines into direct current and back again before it is fed into the grid. (News:GizMag February 24, 2011)

Other Tools

OpenEI - Energy data, tools, models, and other digital resources.

NCAR Forecasts Will Help Xcel Energy Harness Wind - National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) has reached an agreement with Xcel Energy to provide highly detailed, localized weather forecasts to enable the utility to use more wind energy. The forecasts will help utility operators make critical decisions about powering down traditional coal- and natural gas-fired plants when sufficient winds are predicted. (NewsWise Feb. 4, 2009)

Software Predicts Electricity Output for Wind - The Previento system, developed at Oldenburg University in northern Germany in cooperation with researchers from Denmark's Riso National Laboratory, can predict not only how much electricity a specific wind park in Germany will produce but also the total amount of electricity the 20,000 or so wind parks dotted around the country will generate in the coming days and with a high level of accuracy. (Renewable Energy World August 11, 2008)

Using LIDAR for Identification of Wind Parameters - Currently, Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) is the best candidate to replace the met mast-based wind measurements used in power curve calculations for offshore wind farms and is being tested at the Alpha Ventus wind farm. (Renewable Energy March 27, 2008)

Global Wind/Solar Map - The global wind/solar map can be viewed at Wind/Solar. 3TIER chose to unveil its global wind map at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC 2008). (Renewable Energy World March 3, 2008)

Wind Speed Directory

IRATA rope access safety systems for wind farms - "The combination of our offshore and on shore maintenance and repair rope access experience, along with our NDE inspection services make us an ideal partner for a joint venture with a wind turbine management company or installer."

Device determines how well wind turbines operate - Accurate Time Linked data Acquisition System (ATLAS II) can provide a great deal of the information necessary to understand how well a turbine is performing, capable of sampling a large number of signals at once to characterize the inflow, the operational state, and the structural response of a wind turbine. (PhysOrg July 26, 2006) }

Solutions to abrasion and erosion in wind generator vanes - Gel-coat characteristics variables (type, hardness, thickness) studied to reduce degradation to vanes by erosion, particularly at their outer edge, produced by particles suspended in the air. (EurekAlert Sept. 12, 2005)

Tutorials

Wind Powered Electrical Power Systems: 'Blowing in the Wind, If Any' - Wind power is great where there is wind and consumers nearby. However, if there is wind power in Wyoming, there is little power in Chicago due to the amount of electrical resistance. Understand resistance is critical to understanding power generation and consumption. Techtionary > W > Wind Power Generation. (TMCnet July 14, 2008)

Location

Building Integration

Bahrain Launches World's First Commercially Integrated Wind Turbines - These turbines are the first to be integrated on a commercial establishment and are expected to generate 11 to 15 percent of the whole structure's power. (GoodCleanTech April 8, 2008)

Videos

Videos:Wind

High Altitude

The energy in winds miles above us is sufficient to provide all the world's energy needs. It can be captured with Flying Electric Generators at two cents per kilowatt hour or less. This is less than the cost of producing electricity using fossil fuels or nuclear fission.

See Directory:High Altitude Wind Power (Separate page)

Offshore

See Directory:Wind:Offshore (separate index page) - includes floating wind turbine designs.

WindCrofting

The emergence of windcrofting - An alternative to large scale wind farms is "windcrofting," installing rows of smaller-scale turbines between fields on rented farmland, so no productive land is lost. Proven Energy is beginning a program for windcrofting in the UK, and has already installed more than 1000 of their turbines on farms. (EcoGeek Feb. 2, 2007)

Wind Farms

Directory:Wind Farms (separate index) - Wind farms resent an economy of scale, enabling them to produce electricity in the price range of grid power.

Two oil giants plunge into the wind business - Two of the world's leading oil producers, Shell and BP, have almost overnight joined some of the biggest players in wind power in the United States, accelerating a trend of large corporations investing in the rapidly growing alternative-energy field. (Boston Globe March 2, 2007)

Resources

In the News

See News:Wind - separate page

Retail Outlets

Directory:Conventional Renewable Energy > Directory:Solar / Directory:Wind / Directory:Inverters / Directory:Batteries > EcoDirect provides renewable energy, environmentally friendly & energy efficient products - California retail company is committed to raising awareness of and lowering the price point for renewable energy systems: solar panels, wind turbines, inverters, controllers, batteries, etc.

Applications

Directory:Water > Directory:Water from Air > Windmill turns air into water (video) - A system designed by the French company, Eole Tech, uses wind energy to condense water from air. It's still too expensive to be practical for most areas, but may be feasible in some extreme situations. (Yahoo Aug. 8, 2009)

Wind Turbine Success Story At Jiminy Peak - Jiminy Peak, a western Mass. mountain resort, marked the one year anniversary on August 15 of flipping the switch and connecting its 1.5 megawatt GE wind turbine to the grid. The turbine, nicknamed Zephyr, is now generating a full third of the ski resort's power. But getting there wasn't exactly a breeze. (Information Week Aug. 21, 2008)

Wind walkers (video) - Animari are animals that can walk without having to eat. One engineer has designed a light-weight robot that can walk along the beach, powered only by the wind... (Discovery.ca Oct. 18, 2005)

Directory:Max Whisson's Gust Water Trap Apparatus - The Whisson vertical windmill cools the air passing through the whirling blades. As it does so, a proprietary process collects condensate, yielding fresh water from the air.

Clean Patagonian Energy from Wind and Hydrogen - A laboratory situated in the southern Patagonia region of Argentina is producing hydrogen from wind energy to supply power to a village -- and prove that it is possible to replace the polluting fuels derived from petroleum. (Sustain Online May 13, 2005)

Sun and wind bring power to Navajos for the first time - The systems are portable, running on both solar and wind power, and composed of an 800 watt photovoltaic cell, 400 watt wind turbine, 10,000 watt hour batteries and an AC inverter. Added to the package is a high efficiency refrigerator and energy efficient light bulbs. (Salt Lake Tribune June 27, 2005)

Wal-Mart Deploys Solar, Wind, Sustainable Design - New store outside of Dallas, Texas could revolutionize how leading world retailer builds and powers their stores. Experimental design combines a host of renewable energy technologies including numerous solar PV arrays, two, small wind turbines, a bio-fuel boiler to recycle and burn recovered oil from store operations and a nearly endless list of energy-saving and sustainable design principles. (Renewable Energy Access July 22, 2005)

Hydrogen Generated by Antarctic Winds - The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) received a grant of half a million dollars from the Australian Greenhouse Office to demonstrate the use of hydrogen generated by wind in Antarctica. (Renewable Energy Access Nov. 29, 2004)

Associations

WINDPOWER 2008 Focuses on 20% Wind by 2030 - Twenty percent wind energy is certainly driving the formal program itself at the conference. Among the sessions most directly related to the report is one entitled, "How Today's Market Realities Prepare the Way to 20%. Windpower Expo, June 1-4, 2008 (Renewable Energy Worldwide May 29, 2008)

American Wind Energy Association - Promotes wind power growth through advocacy, communication, and education.

LAWEA: Latin America Wind Energy Association (Asociación Latinoamericana de Energía Eólica) - LAWEA es la Asociación Latinoamericana de Energía Eólica la cual promueve el uso de ésta energía renovable como una opción de electricidad limpia para abastecer los países de la región latinoamericana.

Wind Power Goes Global - The Global Wind Energy Council, launched Wednesday, is the new global forum for the wind energy sector, uniting the wind industry and its representative associates. Members represent all the world’s major wind turbine manufacturers and 99 per cent of the world’s 47,317 megawatts of installed wind power capacity. (H2O Power March 27, 2005)

Google Wind Power Associations

Trends

Directory:Wind > Directory:Wind:Cautions / Directory:Wind > Overcapacity Hits Wind Turbine Market - The world's largest wind turbine manufacturer is laying off employees due to over capacity in the market from competition from Chinese suppliers and lower demand in European and U.S. markets as unsustainable subsidies decline. Strong headwinds are blowing against the industry as governments have been forced to reduce the overly generous subsidies they have provided to wind producers. (CanadaFreePress January 24, 2012)

Directory:Wind / Directory:Trends > Directory:Zeitgeist > Top 10 U.S. Wind Energy Stories of 2011 - In a year-end report, the American Wind Energy Association says: "Wind power hits 20 percent overall in two states. It contributes a record 50 percent for a period of time in another. And the turbines that pump out all those electrons? Their cost has dropped 33 percent." (CleanTechnica December 29, 2011) Directory:Wind > Directory:Wind Farms > Directory:Wind Farms > Does this Picture Spell Doom for Wind Power? - The wrong kind of wind? It's a phrase that haunts those desperately trying to justify wind farms in Britain. However, apologists for the giant turbines now face the unpalatable truth that structures designed to operate in windy conditions literally fell flat on their faces when the wind became a bit too strong. According to the latest figures, one turbine worked at 15 per cent of its capacity last year, generating generated electricity worth an estimated £100,000 but had to be subsidised with £130,000 of public money. (Express.co.uk December 11, 2011) Directory:Conventional Renewable Energy / Directory:Trends > China Leading Global Race to Make Clean Energy - These efforts to dominate renewable energy technologies raise the prospect that the West may someday trade its dependence on oil from the Mideast for a reliance on solar panels, wind turbines and other gear manufactured in China. But they also provide healthy competition to the West to ramp up their pace. (NYTimes Jan. 31, 2010) (Also Murcury News)

Wind Installations Continue to Break Records Across The Globe - According to the Global Wind Energy Council more than 27 gigawatts of new wind capacity was commissioned in 2008, a 36% increase on 2007. The three main markets of Europe, North America and Asia dominated. (Renewable Energy World Feb. 4, 2009)

Humor / Entertainment

Directory:Humor > Directory:Wind > Coal Lobby Warns Wind Farms May Blow Earth Off Orbit - Over-the-top-hilarious. Panelists debate whether the U.S. is doing enough to heed the warnings of coal industry scientists who say turbines could blow the Earth right into the sun. See the latest ads run by the wind and solar industries. (Onion October, 2011) Directory:Humor > Directory:Wind > Human Wind Tunnel - Have you ever wished you could jump in a vertical wind tunnel to try out your skydiving acrobatic skills and coordination with other jumpers? This is better than coordinated swimming routines because it's 3-D. These guys are phenomenal. At first, it looks like they're in some kind of spinning glass ball. (Wimp June 1, 2011)

Cautions

See Directory:Wind:Cautions - Separate index page.

Comments

See Talk:Directory:Wind Farms

Directories

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See also

GENERAL

Directory:Wind

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Videos:Wind

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Directory:Wind:Past Developments

Directory:Wind:Cautions

TYPES

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Directory:High-Efficiency Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines

Directory:Home Generation:Wind Turbine

Directory:Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

Directory:High Altitude Wind Power

Directory:Floating

Directory:Wind Augmentation

Directory:Power Via Atmospheric Pressure Differences

SPECIFIC

Directory:Humdinger Windbelt

Directory:Wind:Plans

Directory:Wind:Largest

Directory:Wind Power in the United Kingdom

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