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WIND ENERGY

Taking advantage of modern turbines

Wind facilities have generally deployed turbines of the same power and height in regular uniform arrays. Now, the modern generation of turbines, with customer-selectable tower heights and larger rotors, can significantly increase wind energy’s economic potential using less land to generate cheaper electricity.

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Fig. 1: A complex wind farm layout in Lowville, New York.

Michael J. Okoniewski, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) / US Department of Energy

References

  1. Global Wind Statistics 2017 (The Global Wind Energy Council, 2018); http://gwec.net/wp-content/uploads/vip/GWEC_PRstats2017_EN-003_FINAL.pdf

  2. Rinne, E., Holttinen, H., Kiviluoma, J. & Rissanen, S. Nat. Energy https://doi.org/10.1038//s41560-018-0137-9 (2018).

  3. Manwell, J., McGowan, J. & Rogers, A. Wind Energy Explained – Theory Design and Application 2nd edn, Ch. 3 (John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, 2009).

  4. Fleming, P. et al. Wind Energy 18, 2135–2143 (2015).

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Correspondence to Robert Thresher.

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Thresher, R. Taking advantage of modern turbines. Nat Energy 3, 453–454 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-018-0168-2

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