A recent article in 'Windpower Engineering' shares the 6 projects picked by the Department of Energy to receive federal funding for research and development.
The article states that the 'U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu says six projects have been selected to receive nearly $7.5 million over two years to advance next-generation designs for wind turbine drivetrains.'
Read the full article on WindpowerEngineering.com
Comments from Wisconsin Wind Works Consultant, Fin Flood on the projects selected:
I think this DOE funding is particularly important for developing offshore wind as these designs have lower maintenance and significantly less weight in the nacelle, which reduces the anchoring needs, simplifies installation, etc. With the restrictive siting legislation, wind in Wisconsin will likely include installations in Lake Michigan. Those developing direct drive designs will fill that market. Opportunities for designing & manufacturing the bases (tri-pod anchored or "floating), transmissions, installation boats, maintenance rigs, etc. exists.
Of note, 6 MW turbines seem to be the new "standard" for offshore applications (to date, mostly in Europe). Siemens (Germany) and Alstom (out of France) have pretty viable designs. I'm told Gamesa (Spain) is also getting into the game. GE no longer makes an offshore design. The Cape Wind project, America's 1st large scale offshore project (Cape Cod / Nantucket, MA) has 130 Siemens 3.6 MW turbines.
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