How old is wind power

Learn how a wind turbine works. A wind turbine has as many as 8, different components. Wind turbines are big. Wind turbine blades average almost feet long, and turbine towers average feet tall—about the height of the Statue of Liberty.

The average nameplate capacity of turbines is also increasing, meaning they have more powerful generators. The average capacity of utility-scale wind turbines installed in was 2. Most of the components of wind turbines installed in the United States are manufactured here. There are more than wind-related manufacturing facilities located across 43 states, and the U. These analytical calculations are used to create a statement citing any immediate actions that are required for continued operation, along with those that will need to be scheduled for a later date, such as the replacement of parts or a full inspection.

All of these simulations need to be backed up by on-site inspections. This has traditionally been undertaken in-person by an inspector, but is increasingly being done remotely using robots and technologies such as the BladeSave system.

Find out more about the BladeSave Project. The condition of a wind turbine is assessed through an on-site inspection that is informed by the analytical assessment. This allows for specific weaknesses, defects or potential problems to be checked. Physical monitoring also looks for unusual wear or damage to components and equipment. Load-bearing and safety critical components require particular attention, with some types of wind turbine having their own design flaws or production issues that could lead to premature defects.

Physical checks are performed on the turbine blades, the supporting structure and the foundation to look for signs of corrosion and cracking or to audibly listen for suspicious or unusual noises from the gear and bearing assemblies. Significant damage can lead to the immediate shutdown of an asset, often incurring costly downtimes ahead of maintenance or repair. However, these checks tend to locate minor damage caused by corrosion, fatigue or weathering, allowing the defect to be fixed before it gets any worse.

Different parts require different levels of monitoring and maintenance, with turbine blades and cables requiring higher levels of inspection and care. Physical monitoring also refers to monitoring the surrounding environment, and how this may influence the turbulence and wind speeds used in the analytical assessment.

Manufacturers are working on new designs to help reduce these costs by creating turbines that require fewer service visits and, consequently, less downtime. However, costs for repair and replacement parts are more difficult to ascertain as they can be influenced by the age and condition of the turbine, frequently increasing as the asset ages. In addition, as very few turbines have reached the end of their life expectancy, there is little data on these costs later on the lifecycle, while many older turbines are smaller than those currently on the market.

Wind farm operators are faced with business decisions as their assets age — whether to continue operation, repower or to decommission. These decisions are affected by the physical condition compared to the theoretical lifetime of the turbines. On-site inspections and monitoring tools help evaluate these factors to ensure wind farms operate safely within their design lifetime.

This lifetime can be extended or shortened, depending on damage caused by environmental factors and fatigue. Certain components, such as the blades, require extra monitoring and maintenance and technologies, such as BladeSave, can simplify this process for the operator, allowing for the continual remote monitoring of wind turbine blade life.

If a wind farm is operated within the parameters of the design lifetime and conditions and maintenance is carried out regularly, they can operate beyond the design life. In many cases, the wind conditions at a site create lower loads than anticipated, meaning that turbine structures are free from significant damage. In these instances, repairs are minor and relatively inexpensive while a lifetime extension assessment could determine that a turbine can continue to operate beyond the original design life.

TWI has a wealth of experience with wind turbines, including addressing the particular challenges of offshore assets , such as the NDT inspection of offshore jacket foundations. We have also been part of the BladeSave consortium to develop a condition monitoring system for wind turbine blades and worked on the phased array ultrasonic testing of blade roots. We provide independent expertise and advice related to materials, fabrication and inspection to offer solutions to the wind power industry and you can find out more about our services in this area here.

This giant, the largest in the world, had a rotor diameter of 70 m and rotor blades and was made of cedarwood. It is shown in the image below, where we can just make out the figure of a person to the right of the turbine. This generator operated for 20 years and charged the batteries installed in the basement of his home.

In spite of its size, the generator produced barely 12 kW of power, as this type of turbine is not particularly efficient. The following two-part illustration shows these early forerunners:. It was the Danish scientist Poul la Cour 13 April — 24 April who later discovered that wind turbines with fewer rotor blades are more efficient for producing electricity that turbines with multiple blades , as the former attain a much greater rotation speed than those of the type built by Brush.

In , he designed what can be called the first modern wind generator, shown below. As can be seen, its design was very similar to that of the famous windmills recreated by Cervantes in his novel Don Quijote four centuries earlier:. Source of the photo: Danish Wind Industry Association. The theoretical bases of the use of wind energy to generate electricity were developed in Germany in the second decade of the 20th century, and are mainly the work of Albert Betz 25 December — 16 April , a German physicist who in originated the law that bears his name , which I describe in detail in this other article.

The groundbreaking development in windpower in Europe occurred in Denmark. It gained considerable traction in the first quarter of the 20th century, and contributed to the construction of a decentralized model for the electrification of the country.

In there were 72 wind generators, with a power of between 5 kW and 25 kW. Elsewhere, on the other side of the Atlantic, windmills were widely used in the s to generate electricity in many farming regions of the United States where distribution systems had yet to be developed.

The first turbine with a power of over one MW 1. Designed by the scientist Palmer Cosslett Putnam and manufactured by the S. Morgan Smith company, it was installed in the locality of Castleton, Vermont, USA, and operated for 1, hours until a failure in one of the blades brought its operation to an end. Turbines generating this much power would not be seen again for over 40 years. Click Enter.