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The Impact and Innovation of Wind Turbine Technologies

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2017) | Viewed by 18330

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA
Interests: wind energy technology and innovation; aero-elasticity; fluid structure interaction; aerodynamics; turbulence; optical measurement technology; microfluidics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The global wind industry is a renewable leader and makes a significant impact on the worldwide energy production. The local and global benefits are many, ranging from CO2 reductions and water savings to local economic benefits. In the wind pioneering country of Denmark, the yearly wind energy production has exceeded 42%. Indeed, several days a year, wind power exceeds 100% of the load. The new large Danish windfarms are built offshore—in part due to public resistance towards onshore wind—and are highly efficient. In the state of Texas, more than almost 12% of the energy is provided by huge land based wind farms. Wind energy, occasionally exceeding 45% of the load and the fleet, is operating with a capacity factor above the US average. In absolute numbers, Texas wind power is about four times bigger than Denmark’s. Unlike Denmark, Texas has vast space, great land based wind resources and often great local enthusiasm with little or no public resistance. In China, the development of the wind industry has been rapid, often in remote areas, based on strong government mandates. In absolute numbers, China has eight times more wind power than Texas, but operates at a much lower average capacity factor. The average growth rate of the fleet in recent years is about 10%, 25%, and 60% for the three territories, respectively.

What these three rollouts of wind energy have in common is a strong technical plan, political willingness to integrate wind into the grid and expand the grid without energy storage, combined with an industry appetite for investment and engagement. However, the similarities probably stop here. In Denmark, the primary turbine technology is offshore, in Texas it is onshore IEC wind class II turbines, and in China it is often low wind technology in a complex terrain. The regional industry structure and regulatory environment is obviously different and therefore, the regional technology focus is also quite different and has taken completely different historical technology tracks. So, while the industry is global, the technology solutions have a large component of local adaptation to the industry structure.

In this Special Issue, we celebrate the wind turbine technologies, manufacturing, deployment and operation technologies, which have made this growth possible. We will examine how technology overcomes barriers, is continuously innovated and continuously makes wind energy more cost effective. We will also ask which new technologies are essential to future success in all parts of the world, including the energy poor areas where distributed generation may be more important. Finally, the question will be posed, which technology research and education is needed to secure future impact?

Prof. Carsten H. Westergaard
Guest Editor

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References

BP Statistical Review of World Energy (2015), 65th edition, BP p.l.c., London, UK, June 2016. Available online: https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/pdf/energy-economics/statistical-review-2016/bp-statistical-review-of-world-energy-2016-full-report.pdf.

Heymann, M. Signs of Hubris: The Shaping of Wind Technology Styles in Germany, Denmark, and the United States, 1940–1990.

Jamieson, P. Innovation in Wind Turbine Design; Wiley: Hoboken, NJ, USA, 2011.

Wiser, R.H.; Bolinger, R.H. 2015 Wind Technologies Market Report, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), August 2016. Available online: http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2016/08/f33/2015-Wind-Technologies-Market-Report-08162016.pdf.

Keywords

  • Wind turbine technology
  • Wind farm technology
  • Wind turbine history
  • Wind energy policies
  • Utility scale wind
  • Small wind
  • Building integrated wind
  • Distributed wind
  • Wind turbine technology trends
  • Wind energy conversion systems
  • Cost of energy
  • Technical deployment barriers
  • Technology innovation
  • Low-carbon industry
  • Low carbon supply chain
  • Materials science and technology
  • Economics
  • Social acceptance
  • Manufacturing
  • Installations
  • Operations
  • Value chain
  • Business models
  • Grid integration
  • Micro grid
  • Energy storage

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

30 pages, 1829 KiB  
Article
Factors That Influence Renewable Energy Technological Innovation in China: A Dynamic Panel Approach
by Zheng-Xia He, Shi-Chun Xu, Qin-Bin Li and Bin Zhao
Sustainability 2018, 10(1), 124; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10010124 - 7 Jan 2018
Cited by 73 | Viewed by 8677
Abstract
We examine the driving effects of various factors on technological innovation to renewables (TIRES), focusing on a set of 29 provinces in China, and apply a dynamic panel approach. China has become a leading player in research and development spending in renewables, and [...] Read more.
We examine the driving effects of various factors on technological innovation to renewables (TIRES), focusing on a set of 29 provinces in China, and apply a dynamic panel approach. China has become a leading player in research and development spending in renewables, and the dynamic panel estimators we use prove themselves to be suitable in handling the persistent effect on TIRES. The level of TIRES in the previous periods is positively and highly correlated with that in the current period and confirmed the need for a stable and consistent policy support for renewables. Electricity consumption is the most important driver for all renewables and wind energy, but the driving effect was weaker for solar energy and biomass. Research and development intensity is the most important driver for biomass, but is only the second most important driver for all renewables, solar energy and wind energy. Unexpectedly, electricity price has had significant negative impacts on TIRES, which reveals that lowering electricity prices will lead to higher innovation in renewables. The driving effect of renewable energy tariff surcharge subsidy is not significant, which means that Chinese subsidy policy has not played the desired role. The driving effect of installed renewable energy capacity is also minimal, which may be due to the fact that overcapacity will hinder TIRES in China. This paper may help policy-makers and the industry understand how to promote TIRES in China effectively based on these above influential factors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact and Innovation of Wind Turbine Technologies)
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5197 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Fatigue Crack Propagation of Gears Considering Uncertainties in Loading and Material Properties
by Haileyesus B. Endeshaw, Stephen Ekwaro-Osire, Fisseha M. Alemayehu and João Paulo Dias
Sustainability 2017, 9(12), 2200; https://doi.org/10.3390/su9122200 - 29 Nov 2017
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4669
Abstract
Failure prediction of wind turbine gearboxes (WTGs) is especially important since the maintenance of these components is not only costly but also causes the longest downtime. One of the most common causes of the premature fault of WTGs is attributed to the fatigue [...] Read more.
Failure prediction of wind turbine gearboxes (WTGs) is especially important since the maintenance of these components is not only costly but also causes the longest downtime. One of the most common causes of the premature fault of WTGs is attributed to the fatigue fracture of gear teeth due to fluctuating and cyclic torque, resulting from stochastic wind loading, transmitted to the gearbox. Moreover, the fluctuation of the torque, as well as the inherent uncertainties of the material properties, results in uncertain life prediction for WTGs. It is therefore essential to quantify these uncertainties in the life estimation of gears. In this paper, a framework, constituted by a dynamic model of a one-stage gearbox, a finite element method, and a degradation model for the estimation of fatigue crack propagation in gear, is presented. Torque time history data of a wind turbine rotor was scaled and used to simulate the stochastic characteristic of the loading and uncertainties in the material constants of the degradation model were also quantified. It was demonstrated that uncertainty quantification of load and material constants provides a reasonable estimation of the distribution of the crack length in the gear tooth at any time step. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact and Innovation of Wind Turbine Technologies)
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5462 KiB  
Article
Comparative Analysis of Decoupling Control Methodologies and H Multivariable Robust Control for Variable-Speed, Variable-Pitch Wind Turbines: Application to a Lab-Scale Wind Turbine
by Sergio Fragoso, Juan Garrido, Francisco Vázquez and Fernando Morilla
Sustainability 2017, 9(5), 713; https://doi.org/10.3390/su9050713 - 29 Apr 2017
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4276
Abstract
This work is focused on the improvement of variable-speed variable-pitch wind turbine performance by means of its control structure. This kind of systems can be considered as multivariable nonlinear processes subjected to undesired interactions between variables and presenting different dynamics at different operational [...] Read more.
This work is focused on the improvement of variable-speed variable-pitch wind turbine performance by means of its control structure. This kind of systems can be considered as multivariable nonlinear processes subjected to undesired interactions between variables and presenting different dynamics at different operational zones. This interaction level and the dynamics uncertainties complicate the control system design. The aim of this work is developing multivariable controllers that cope with such problems. The study shows the applicability of different decoupling methodologies and provides a comparison with a H controller, which is an appropriate strategy to cope with uncertainties. The methodologies have been tested in simulation and verified experimentally in a lab-scale wind turbine. It is demonstrated that the wind turbine presents more interaction at the transition zone. Then, this operational point is used as the nominal one for the controller designs. At this point, decoupling controllers obtain perfect decoupling while the H control presents important interaction in the generated power loop. On the other hand, they are slightly surpassed by the robust design at other points, where perfect decoupling is not achieved. However, decoupling controllers are easier to design and implement, and specifically dynamic simplified decoupling achieve the best global response. Then, it is concluded that the proposed methodologies can be considered for implantation in industrial wind turbines to improve their performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact and Innovation of Wind Turbine Technologies)
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