Thursday, March 28, 2024
Archives August 2016

Archives

August 2016

ARTICLES

Optimizing Lubrication

A one-size-fits-all approach: A single special grease for all rolling bearings can help achieve maximum yield.

Since each rolling bearing in a wind turbine operates under different conditions, it often is assumed using a variety of lubricants is essential for serving all of them. For operators, this means not only added logistical efforts and expensive warehousing but also the increased risk of product mix-ups. Some newly developed greases can be used […]
Wind Systems staff

Cutting the Concrete

New foundation technology will lower use of concrete in wind-turbine towers by 75 percent.

An Oregon startup is developing a new foundation system for wind-turbine towers that cuts the amount of concrete used by 75 percent – reducing carbon-dioxide emissions, shortening wind-farm construction times, and lowering the overall cost of wind energy. RUTE Foundation Systems and a research team at Portland State University received early-stage investment support from Oregon […]
Wind Systems staff

MARKET OUTLOOK: A Win for Wind Power

Wind industry stays afloat amidst economic and political uncertainty.

The winds of fortune are shifting rapidly for the energy sector. The rise of hydraulic fracturing and the ongoing OPEC-driven supply glut have pushed fossil fuel prices well below historic norms. While there is evidence that supply is once again starting to constrict, the continued abundance of dirty but cheap fuels, particularly natural gas, has […]
Angelos Angelou

MARKET OUTLOOK: Breathing New Life into Wind

PTC extension gives wind-industry projects a chance to really take off.

The five-year extension of the Production Tax Credit has breathed new life into the wind industry, and as a result, new wind-plant additions are expected to peak at 9 GW in 2018. The Production Tax Credit and Investment Tax Credit were extended for five years with a gradual ramp-down of benefits for each year. “The […]
Lisa Cohn

MARKET OUTLOOK: Iowa: A Leader in Renewable Energy

When you imagine a future for wind energy nationwide, you don’t have to look farther than the state of Iowa as a shining example of what could be. Iowa is already the national leader in wind-power generation, and we have a goal — and a plan to achieve it — to be the first state […]
Terry Branstad

MARKET OUTLOOK: A Strong Wind Blows Deep in the Heart of Texas

No one said Texas doesn’t try to do everything big. So obviously, the Lone Star state’s “bigness” is a point of pride in everything it does. When it comes to the growing world of wind power, Texas is no exception: It leads the nation in wind-energy production. If Texas were a country, it would boast […]
Kenneth Carter

MARKET OUTLOOK: Wind Future Grows Stronger

American wind power poised to quadruple by 2030.

American wind power is on track to supply 20 percent of the country’s electricity by 2030, a goal set in the Department of Energy’s Wind Vision report released early last year. Following a near-record year of wind installments in 2015, activity in the U.S. continued at pace in the first quarter. In addition to 520 […]
John Hensley

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