Cost effective wind generation within sight

The Wind Turbine Company (WTC) announced that it is testing a new wind turbine, the company's first. WTC's prototype, rated at 250 kW, is operating at the Department of Energy's National Wind Technology Centre near Boulder, Colorado.
"The debut of our 'proof of concept' turbine is a significant step toward enabling wind energy to compete head-to-head with electricity from natural gas generation," said Larry Miles, WTC co-founder and President. "Our technology has the potential for at least a 30 % cost savings over our nearest competitor. The goal of generating unsubsidised electricity from the wind for three cents per kWh is within sight."

The Washington State company's engineers designed the machine, nicknamed the "Smart Turbine", from scratch. By intentionally ignoring existing designs and engineering every element from the ground up, WTC maintains that it has developed the first fully optimised wind turbine. WTC's prototype machine is principally intended to test the turbine's variable-coning rotor and its control system.
Support for development of the new turbine has come from both private and public sources. The federal government, through the Department of Energy's Next Generation Turbine Development Program will invest $ 15 mm in the project, a little over 1/3 of which has been expended to date. California, home to more wind-farms than any other state, awarded WTC $ 950,000 in 1998 through the State's Public Interest Energy Research Program.

WTC's turbine is the first completely new utility-grade, American-made wind turbine in nearly 20 years. "We see our Smart Turbine as a natural evolution in turbine design," said Ken Deering, WTC co-founder and Vice President of Engineering. "Our concept is new in the same way front wheel drive was 'new' to Detroit. Making logical engineering shifts such as ours may appear radical at first, but they are just based on sound engineering principles."
WTC holds two issued patents on its turbine and has applied for several more. WTC's prototype turbine departs from the offerings of the leading turbine manufacturers, principally European companies who dominate the global market.

WTC's machine features a down wind orientation; the wind reaches the rotor blades after passing by the tower and generator assemblage. The turbine employs only two rotor blades (as opposed to three), and in extreme winds, each blade flexes dynamically and independently from the other.
"A downwind turbine can shed loads, whereas the European-style upwind designs must absorb them, and higher loads mean more material and higher cost," notes Deering.
Another departure is that the lighter weight turbine can more economically rest atop a much taller tower than that used by today's manufacturers. A taller tower (up to 100 meters or more) enables a wind turbine to harness higher wind speeds found at such heights.
"We're optimistic about our Smart Turbine and its place in the world," Miles explains. "The market is growing very rapidly even though today's technology requires subsidies. With our substantial cost advantage, we're confident that we will secure a sizeable share of domestic and foreign sales."

According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) $ 1 bn was invested in building new wind power capacity to serve American consumers last year. In Europe, which witnessed almost $ 3 bn in new wind capacity in 1999, AWEA's European counterpart has predicted that 15,000 MW in new wind capacity, amounting to an investment of approximately $ 15 bn at today's prices, will be installed there by 2004.
Energy analysts already rank wind power as the world's fastest growing new energy technology spurred on in part by concerns over air pollution from conventional fossil fuel power plants and the risks of global warming. World-wide, investment in electricity generating capacity is a $ 100 bn per year industry, and wind energy is expected by many to capture a growing share of this market over time.

The Wind Turbine Company was founded in 1989 to develop low-cost, utility-grade wind turbines. The company is owned by its founders, directors, and employees, and has received funding from outside investors including The Dow Chemical Company.