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/

David MacKay is a Professor in the Department of Physics at Cambridge University and recently published a book ‘Sustainable Energy – without the hot air’.

Secretary of State Ed Miliband said: “David MacKay is known for making science accessible and helping to explain clearly the urgency and the challenges of moving to a low carbon economy. I want him to bring all of these qualities to the job of advising DECC on how we can meet Britain’s carbon targets and energy security needs.”

Mackay said “Climate change and secure energy are two of the most urgent issues facing the UK and the global community. The solutions must be rooted firmly in the science and I look forward to advising the Government on how it can help deliver these important goals.”

Mackay has caused a mixed reaction amongst renewable energy supporters mainly due to different interpretations of his book. It is easy at first glance to believe he is saying that renewables are just not up to the job of meeting our energy needs. However a different angle as put by Paul on Zerocarbonista is that what he is really saying is that renewables could never meet our present day demands “without considerable inconvenience”.

This is a very topical issue in the renewable energy industry as people expect wind energy projects to cause absolutely no effects on people (e.g they should not be visible from houses, national parks or in fact anywhere). As a population we need to accept that change needs to happen and some of that change may affect us at an individual level.