Wind power rising with better technology

Does bigger mean better?...

With the world looking to shift the pendulum of energy consumption from oil to renewable alternatives, the improvement of alternative energy sources from energy capture and transfer is likely to pay a huge part in the eventual alternative infrastructure overhaul.

With global demand for solar and wind energy capture rising, the gauntlet has been thrown down to manufacturers and scientists to deliver technological improvements in both photovoltaic cells on solar panels and efficiency and size on wind turbines.
The latter, according to reports, will grow to 447GW in the next five years and by year 2015, Asia will lead the world in installed wind capacity.

According to AlternativeEnergy.com: "Enercon is amongst the other manufacturers who are focusing on 3MV-class wind turbines based on E-82/2.0. Without increasing the component sizes, there are new designs to operate at 3MW power. There will be a 3-6 percent increased yield because of these innovative designs as claimed by the Enercon."

The key, of course, is for wind turbines to operate to maximum efficiency even when the wind isn't necessarily strong. REPower Systems AG presented two new improvements on their 3.XM series for sites with low-wind speed at the European Wind Energy Conference & Exhibition, held in Warsaw in April, which outlined design improvements on turbines in less windy locations, within the UK and Canadian market.

For onshore solutions, Alstom Power displayed a larger turbine which lends itself to easier maintenance and with an ergonomically viable design makes their flagship ECO 110 a successful larger scale rotor wind turbine.

Turbines are also becoming more efficient, with Gamesa and Siemens Energy both announcing a Direct Drive to their G128-4.5 MW wind turbine, and Nordex SE following suit with their N80, N90, and N100 models. Improvements in compact designs and superior specifications make these wind turbines remarkably efficient and should increase the profitability with an assurance and reliability.

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