Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

US Offering $45M For Huge Wind Energy Test Bed

Posted by samzenpus on from the blow-baby-blow dept.

coondoggie writes "On a day when one of the largest wind farm plans bit the dust, the US Department of Energy is offering up a five-year, $45 million grant to design and build a large dynamometer facility for testing 5 to 15 MW rated wind turbines and equipment. The DOE says such a facility is needed as the US has fallen behind other countries in the race to build ever-larger wind turbines for energy production. According to the DOE, the average size of wind turbines installed in the United States in 2007 increased to roughly 1.65 MW. Additionally, turbines already developed range in the 2.5 MW to 3.5 MW capacity sizes; with plans being developed for even greater power ratings. The larger wind turbines have outpaced the availability of US-based testing facilities, the DOE stated."

4 of 91 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Why? by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 5, Informative

    IANAA (Adult, yes) Nuclear is much more efficient when compared to wind farms, but nuclear energy hasn't been developed enough for it to be used as a main energy source.

    Someone should tell that to the French. Nuclear reactors provide more than 75% of France's power requirements..

    --
    My blog
  2. Re:I find this hard to believe... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    I suspect the power output is only a part of it. More important (as pointed out above);

    - at what wind speed does it break down?
    - if you run it at X high speed for Y hours, and small cracks form, how many more hours can you run it before it breaks? This is important e.g. if there's been a storm - how quickly do you need to send out a maintenance crew, or switch off the turbines?
    - how is it affected by ice? how is it affected by flying plastic bags, or birds?
    - if you want to compare 25 different designs for each of the above, how can you make sure they all experience the same input, so the output is comparable?

    Testing in the wild is sensible but doesn't provide the quality of data needed.

  3. Re:Why? by maxume · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you look closely, you will see that they also provide the U.S. more electrical generation than France has.

    --
    Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
  4. Re:Go for it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Well, here in Spain we already produce 20% of our electricity needs with wind, and it wasn't very hard or ultra-expensive:

    https://demanda.ree.es/demanda.html