Archives October 2021

Archives

October 2021

ARTICLES

Keeping up with market needs

How wind-energy providers can scale their operations to keep pace with growing demand.

Stronger focus on net zero goals is driving a huge surge for wind power. According to recent reports, 2020 marked the wind-energy sector’s best year so far with 93 GW of capacity installed globally due to soaring demand. While land wind energy growth in the U.S. hit record levels and saw investment of $24.6 billion, […]
Muhammad Malik

Formulating load-sharing behavior in epicyclic gears for wind turbines

This article validates an analytical model for estimating load sharing of three-planet epicyclic gear sets that has been reformulated for wind-turbine gearboxes to consider the effects of gravity related to carrier-bearing clearance and moments from the rotor.

In an ideal epicyclic gear set, every parallel gear path transmits the same amount of torque. However, it is well known that certain manufacturing variations result in unequal load sharing between the parallel gear paths. Previous works have developed and validated a general closed-form analytical model of this phenomenon that describes the load-sharing characteristics of […]
Jonathan Keller, Yi Guo

High-volume shredding of oversize turbine blades now possible

Cost-effective, innovative shredder designs eliminate catastrophic breakdowns, production downtime by upgrading points of vulnerability and enabling simultaneous shredding and chipping.

In the wind-power industry, when turbines are eventually decommissioned or wind farms upgraded in a process called repowering, wind-turbine blades must either be disposed of or recycled. However, giant composite fiberglass wind-turbine blades, which can be up to 80 feet long and weigh many tons, have been challenging to shred and recycle. Even after the […]
John Neuens

NEWS

New onshore wind crane takes step closer to reality

As developers chase stronger flows, onshore wind hub heights are growing beyond the reach of conventional crawler cranes. Mammoet’s new WTA lifting system allows theoretically infinite hub heights and paves the way towards emissions-free turbine erection. The WTA assembles wind-turbine generators by attaching directly to the tower itself, using a series of clamps to self-assemble […]
October 27, 2021

Clir Renewables named one of Canada’s top growing companies

Clir Renewables, a company dedicated to maximizing project returns from renewable energy assets, recently announced it was recognized as one of Canada’s top growing companies of 2021 by the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business. Launched in 2019, Canada’s Top Growing Companies aims to recognize and celebrate entrepreneurial achievement by identifying and amplifying the success […]
October 5, 2021

Vestas wins 207 MW in the U.S., introduces two new 4-MW platform variants

Vestas has secured a 207-MW order from Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions to power the Ledyard Windpower project in Iowa, featuring 46 V150-4.5 MW wind turbines. The order includes supply and commissioning of the turbines, as well as a 10-year Active Output Management 5000 (AOM 5000) service agreement, designed to ensure optimized performance of the asset. […]
October 5, 2021

Collett & Sons Ltd delivers shunt reactors for offshore wind project

Collett & Sons has transported two 160Te shunt reactors more than 5,000 miles to the onshore substation site for the Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind-farm project, jointly owned by EDF Renewables and ESB. Collett was contracted with the full scope of work providing a door-to-door service, including the project management, engineering, and the transport of […]
October 5, 2021

Alicat to build world’s first hybrid powered daughter craft fleet

Great Yarmouth based marine and engineering specialist Alicat has won a multi-million-pound contract with North Star Renewables, beating off stiff competition to secure the build work for its first hybrid powered daughter craft fleet. Once completed, the vessels with low carbon emission potential are destined for the Dogger Bank Wind Farm, 130 kilometers off England’s […]
October 5, 2021

NREL pinpoints method for moving larger turbine blades across U.S.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have determined how to transport massive wind-turbine blades to parts of the country at a lower cost than segmented blades, but the solution will require some flexibility on the part of industry. Manufacturing blades that can bend with “controlled flexing” will allow […]
October 5, 2021