Despite all the work that goes into finding a suitable location for a wind farm, assessing the wind resource and designing the best layout and technology to suit site conditions and maximise power yields, actual output can still fall short of expectations. Windpower Monthly investigates the reasons.
Windpower Monthly visited ZF Wind Power's offices in Lommel, Belgium to talk to Dr Martin Knops, Chief Technology Officer and Dr Joris Peeters, Head of Digitalisation.
PARTNER CONTENT: The future of gearboxes is central to the future of wind, but can we sustain the pace of development? Are experts ahead of technology? And what challenges may lie ahead?
"Extraordinary policy action" is needed to encourage the roll-out of technology needed to transform the world's energy system and limit global warming to below 2C by mid-century.
The minister of business affairs has altered an executive order lifting a height restriction meaning local authorities can permit turbines with a tip height of above 150 metres.
Australia's renewable energy target (RET) of 33TWh will be met early, following the completion of Goldwind's Cattle Hill project in Tasmania, according to industry body the Clean Energy Council.
The surcharge funding Germany's green energy expansion will rise in 2020 and peak in 2021, before falling as first-generation renewable power plants' 20-year contracts expire, according to a clean energy think tank.
WATCH: The renewables industry continues to be male dominated with women making up only 32% of the workforce. Windpower Monthly spoke to some of that 32% to find out how they got into the industry, why the disparity exists and what they think can be done about it.
GE Renewable Energy recently secured certification for one of its 2.7MW turbines for 40 years. As GE said, this would help lower the levelised cost of energy, although others pointed out that some investors might not be enthusiastic about factoring a 40-year life into their financial calculations.
After a period of zero growth, wind deployment is beginning to take off again in France's overseas territories, but will need to speed up further to achieve the government's 2030 target.
German technology developer Adion Technologies believes its medium-speed gear and toothed-belt hybrid gearbox concept for turbines up to 20MW will become a wind industry game changer. Eize de Vries finds out why.
Makani has declared the offshore test flights of its 600kW kite-wind demonstrator a success, even though one of the two flights ended in a rather wet crash landing.
TENDER WATCH The shift to auctions is having a profound effect on the industry across the entire supply chain and servicing. This interactive table monitors where auctions are taking place, the prices seen in those markets and who the winners are.
