The Most Powerful Turbine Award 2014 Goes Too…..

Colin P
Danish wind turbine maker Vestas is planning to create and market the world’s largest wind turbine. Its first 8-MW prototype began generating power at the Danish National Test Centre for Large Wind Turbines in Østerild. Here it is being assembled at the site: We’ve come a long way since the first 450-kW offshore wind turbine was… Read the rest

Hunterston Exports Power for the First Time

Sarah Dinola
SSE Renewables has exported power from its offshore wind turbine test facility at Hunterston on the North Ayrshire coast for the first time. Hunterston is the UK’s first onshore test site for offshore turbines.  The current features turbine under test is a 6MW Siemens 154 direct drive machine, some 177 metres high. The scheme is being… Read the rest

The Composition of Turbine Blades

Colin P
Wind turbine blades are the heart and soul of a wind turbine. Have you ever wondered what wind turbine blades are made from? In my ignorance, I thought it was aluminium, the same as aeroplanes. In fact, the very earliest prototype wind turbine blades were made from a variety of materials, including balsa wood, Bakelite (an… Read the rest

What Future for Offshore Wind Farms in Europe?

Colin P
In the beginning there were only onshore wind farms. But with newer wind turbine technology, and reduced objections from local communities, offshore wind farms seemed the ideal solution. But in Europe it seems that continued problems are stifling offshore wind growth and may require a re-emphasis back to onshore wind farms. It’s not just that the… Read the rest

A Free Wind Turbine for You!

Sarah Dinola
Are you a landowner in Northern Ireland (or Scotland or Italy) with planning permission in place for a wind turbine of 200kW or higher – 30-metre tower height  – 26 metre or larger rotor diameter and a grid connection offer in place? If you are, then you’ll know that the final piece of the jigsaw you… Read the rest

Danes Produce Half of their Electricity from Wind

Sarah Dinola
For the month of December, last year, wind power provided the country of Denmark with just over half-about 55%- of its electricity. That’s a record. It is the first time any country has generated and used over half of its electricity from wind power alone for an entire month. During Christmas week, it provided 68.5%. Denmark… Read the rest

Cape Wind, Nantucket Sound: Latest Developments

Sarah Dinola
The much delayed huge offshore wind farm off Nantucket Sound; Cape Wind, moved a step closer to being constructed after a ruling by a US federal court on Wednesday. The US Court of Appeals upheld the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) 2012 determination that the proposed 130-turbine Cape Wind offshore wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound, south… Read the rest

United States Chooses Turbines for First Offshore Wind Farm

Colin P
The award of the lucrative contract to supply the United States’ first offshore wind farm has been eagerly anticipated.  It was announced in a supply and maintenance contract announced just before Christmas. It will be for the huge Cape Wind wind farm located on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound,  off of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. And the… Read the rest

The World’s Largest Order for Onshore Wind Turbines Goes to….

Colin P
Siemens.  They have been asked by MidAmerican Energy to supply no less than 448 turbines. Yep, as the title suggests it is the world’s largest order ever for onshore wind turbines. The turbines are for five wind farms that are to be established in the US state of Iowa. The output will be 1050 MW which… Read the rest

New Turbines at EWEA Biannual Offshore Wind Conference & Exhibition

Colin P
For three days at the end of last month in Frankfurt, international exhibitors displayed their new offshore turbines and wind-related products, such as a huge HVAC submarine cable, and some offshore foundation developments to support the turbines. Here’s a selection of what was presented that we will expect to see in 2014 and beyond: Samsung showed… Read the rest