Wind Energy Planning

The US energy department DOE has installed a new wind turbine on its premises near Boulder, Colorado.

The Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has commissioned the 2.3 megawatt turbine on its National Technology Center site as part of an R&D project with Siemens.

The wind turbine has been commissioned in order to allow detailed investigations and monitoring – in what has been described as the biggest government-industry research partnership for wind energy generation ever undertaken in the U.S.

NREL Director Dan Arvizu said. “Under the cooperative research and development agreement we have in place, Siemens Energy, NREL and the U.S. Department of Energy will put this 2.3 megawatt turbine through all of its paces, in all kinds of conditions, in a rigorous testing regime that will continue for a minimum of three years, at a shared cost of $14 million.”

Barry Nicholls, senior vice president of Siemens Energy said “At Siemens, innovation is one of our core values. That’s why we are especially pleased to join forces with our nation’s leading wind research facility…This important new research program will help us further enhance the performance of our turbines and lower the cost of clean, wind-generated power, which in turn will help diversify the overall mix of power generation sources in the U.S.”

“Today begins a new era of research at NREL’s National Wind Technology Center,” said Arvizu. “With our partners at Siemens Energy, we will embark on a comprehensive R&D program that will pave the way for the even more advanced wind turbines of the future.”

Although similar to turbines currently being used to generate power, the Siemens wind turbine to be tested is a ‘late-stage prototype’ that features a new blade designed to capture more of the wind’s energy without increasing the loads that can cause wear on the other turbine parts. Testing of the Siemens 2.3-MW turbine will include structural and performance testing, acoustics and power quality testing.

Installation of the pilot turbine comes in the wake of Siemens’ decision to locate its own wind energy research and development centre in Boulder. Siemens expect to create 40 green collar jobs at the facility by 2013.

Turbine vital statistics

* Model – Siemens 2.3-101
* Production (NWTC Site) – 2,800 MWh/year
* Production (Typical Site) – 7,050 MWh/year
* Homes Powered (Typical Site) – 630
* Tower Height – 80 m / 262.5 ft
* Rotor Diameter – 101 m / 331.4 ft
* Swept Area – 8k m2 / 86.2 ft2
* Total Height – 131 m / 428.1 ft

SOURCE Siemens Energy
Web site: http://www.siemens.com/energy/

http://www.nrel.gov/