U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced that six projects
in four states—California, Colorado, Florida, and New York—have been
selected to receive nearly $7.5 million over two years to advance
next-generation designs for wind turbine drivetrains. Drivetrains,
which include a turbine’s gearbox and generator, are at the heart of the
turbine and are responsible for producing electricity from the rotation
of the blades. The advances in drivetrain technologies and
configurations supported through these research and development projects
will help the United States maintain its position as a global leader in
wind energy technologies, support thousands of American manufacturing,
construction and planning jobs in a key renewable energy market, and
reduce the cost of wind energy in the future. The projects selected
today will also help promote and accelerate the deployment of advanced
turbines for offshore wind energy in the United States.
“Developing innovative drivetrain technologies will allow U.S.
manufacturers to build larger, more cost-effective, and more efficient
wind turbines than any in operation today,” said Secretary Chu. “The
projects announced today will help the United States to lead the global
wind energy industry in this critical technology area, diversify our
domestic energy portfolio, and create new jobs for American workers.”
These early research and development projects will focus on reducing
the cost of wind energy by increasing component reliability or
redesigning drivetrains to eliminate the need for some components
altogether. For example, direct-drive generators eliminate the need for a
gearbox, which reduces weight, eliminates moving parts, and reduces
maintenance costs. Increased component reliability means fewer
operations and maintenance costs over the lifetime of a wind turbine.
Other projects receiving funding will work to increase the amount of
energy drivetrains can produce or help develop drivetrain designs that
minimize the use of rare earth materials. More information on the components that make up a drivetrain is available.
Each project has been selected to receive up to $700,000 to conduct
technology cost and readiness assessments during Phase I. Following the
six-month Phase I funding period, several of the projects will be
selected for award negotiations of up to an additional $2 million each
over 18 months. Projects selected for Phase II awards will use the
funding to conduct performance tests of the specific drivetrain
components.
Below is the list of the projects selected for awards:
- Advanced Magnet Lab (Palm Bay, Florida) will
develop an innovative superconducting direct-drive generator for large
wind turbines. The project will employ a new technology for the
drivetrain coil configuration to address technical challenges of large
torque electric machines. - Boulder Wind Power (Boulder, Colorado) will test an
innovative permanent magnet-based direct-drive generator to validate
performance and reliability of a large utility-scale turbine. Design
requirements and optimization will also be documented for turbines up to
10 megawatts and for turbines deployed in offshore applications. The
proposed generator design may operate at higher efficiencies than other
permanent magnet generators. - Clipper Windpower (Carpinteria, California) will
develop and test a unique drivetrain using a chain drive to replace the
gearbox. This proposed design enables increased serviceability over
conventional gearboxes and is scalable to large capacity turbines. - Dehlsen Associates, LLC (Santa Barbara, California)will
design and test components of an innovative direct-drive concept. The
proposed drivetrain configuration eliminates the need for gearboxes,
power electronics, transformers, and rare earth materials. The design
may also be applicable to marine hydrokinetic—or ocean power—devices. - GE Global Research (Niskayuna, New York) will
design and perform component testing for a 10 megawatt direct-drive
generator employing low-temperature superconductivity technology. The
proposed generator employs a unique stationary superconducting component
design that reduces the risk of fluid leakage. - National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Golden, Colorado)
will optimize and test a hybrid design that combines the advantages of
geared and direct-drives through an improved single-stage gearbox and a
non-permanent magnet generator that reduces the need for rare earth
materials. The technology developed will be scalable to 10 megawatts,
and may be used to retrofit currently deployed 1.5 megawatt turbines.
The awards will be issued through DOE’s Wind and Water Power Program, which works to research, test, develop, and deploy innovative wind energy technologies.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading …
Posted in 
Add to Google