A company in Bellevue, Wash., is working on a new design for wind turbines that officials believe could lower the cost of wind energy in the electric power marketplace, according to a report in the January 2003 issue of Mechanical Engineering magazine, a publication of ASME International (American Society of Mechanical Engineers).
The Wind Turbine Co. is developing a turbine with the rotor blades set in a down-wind configuration. This radically different design, which is aided by flexible towers, allows for significant weight and load reduction in the blades and other components, resulting in higher energy producing efficiency and lower costs.
Meanwhile, energy giant General Electric is going the route of very large wind turbines, including a 3.6-Megawatt machine featuring a rotor 330 feet in diameter atop a tower nearly 40 stories in height. According to Mechanical Engineering, GE plans to situate multiple 3.6-MW turbines in the waters of the Irish Sea later this year.
In addition to GE and Wind Turbine Co., other organizations supporting environmentally sustainable wind energy include the U.S. Department of Energy. In the mid-1990s, the DOE granted $40 million in seed money to private companies to develop low-cost, utility-scale wind turbines, reports Mechanical Engineering.
The commitment to technology development notwithstanding, many experts in the power business are dubious about the future of wind energy in the United States, as well as other countries. Wind turbines currently account for less than one percent of electrical energy produced in the U.S.
The main problem with wind power is cost. Current wind farms can produce electricity at 5 cents a kilowatt-hour, compared to 3 cents a kilowatt-hour at a gas-fired combined cycle power plant.
Other problems include the challenge of dealing with constantly shifting winds and delivering the generated power from the remote locations of wind farms to population centers.
ASME and other groups have called for increased funding for research in wind energy. "Wind turbines could be ready to break into the mainstream of electrical generation before the end of the decade," concludes the article in Mechanical Engineering.
For further information regarding Mechanical Engineering, visit www.asme.org and click on ME Magazine.
ASME International is a 125,000-member organization focused on technical, educational and research issues. ASME conducts one of the world's largest technical publishing operations, holds numerous technical conferences worldwide, and offers hundreds of professional development courses each year. ASME sets internationally recognized industrial and manufacturing codes and standards that enhance public welfare and safety.
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