Materials Challenges in Present and Future Wind Energy
- PDF / 997,028 Bytes
- 12 Pages / 582 x 780 pts Page_size
- 67 Downloads / 223 Views
terials Challenges in Present Title TitleFuture Wind Energy and Brian Hayman Author’s Name(Det (Affiliation) Norske Veritas AS and University of Oslo, Norway) and Author’s Jakob Wedel-Heinen Name (Affiliation) (Det Norske Veritas, Danmark A/S, Denmark) Povl Brøndsted (Risø-DTU, National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, The Technical University of Denmark, Denmark) Abstract Abcd...
Abstract The main concept currently in use in wind energy involves horizontal-axis wind turbines with blades of fiber composite materials. This turbine concept is expected to remain as the major provider of wind power in the foreseeable future. However, turbine sizes are increasing, and installation offshore means that wind turbines will be exposed to more demanding environmental conditions. Many challenges are posed by the use of fiber composites in increasingly large blades and increasingly hostile environments. Among these are achieving adequate stiffness to prevent excessive blade deflection, preventing buckling failure, ensuring adequate fatigue life under variable wind loading combined with gravitational loading, and minimizing the occurrence and consequences of production defects. A major challenge is to develop cost-effective ways to ensure that production defects do not cause unacceptable reductions in equipment strength and lifetime, given that inspection of large wind power structures is often problematic.
Introduction
Wind energy can be used to power individual installations directly or to generate electricity to be fed into a distribution system. Individual wind-powered installations can be either fixed, as in pumps, or moving, as in ships. Although the application of wind power to generate electricity is by far the most widespread application, it should be mentioned that studies are in progress to apply wind energy in other ways. An example is the E/S Orcelle zero-emissions cargo ship concept,1 proposed by a Scandinavian shipping company to use only renewable energy sources, including the sun, wind, and waves, as well as fuel cell technology, to meet all propulsion and onboard power requirements.
years this means an energy yield factor (the ratio of energy produced to energy consumed) of between 20 and 40. The main disadvantage is that wind turbines deliver power not according to the demand but according to the wind speed. Existing electrical distribution systems cannot accumulate and store the electrical energy generated and distribute it when it is needed. (See the article by Whittingham in this issue for more information on electrical storage.) Thus, wind energy will have to be combined with other sources of energy until much more widespread means of storing electrical energy become available. Also, wind power requires a distributed power transmission network that is different from the type of distribution system needed for a small number of large power stations. A further disadvantage at present is that, although the lifecycle energy yield ratio is favorable, the cost of producing electrical energy from wind at most
Data Loading...
