Less to lift: Nordic Windpower’s N1000 wind turbines use two blades to generate up to 1 megawatts of power, making them cheaper to build than a conventional three-bladed machine.
Nordic Windpower
Nordic Windpower's two-bladed rotors depart from conventional wind-power design.
One of the first R&D grants to a renewable-energy developer from the economic-stimulus funds approved by Congress this spring could have a dramatic impact on the design of wind turbines. The $16 million loan guarantee offered by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to Berkeley, CA-based Nordic Windpower will accelerate commercialization of the company's Swedish-designed, two-bladed wind turbines, marking the first utility-scale alternative to the industry's dominant three-bladed design in over a decade.
In recent years, wind-energy entrepreneurs have already been pushing beyond the standard design. Blue H Technologies of the Netherlands and Norway's SWAY, for example, are testing unorthodox turbine designs tailored for placement on offshore platforms anchored in deep water far offshore. Blue H is testing two-bladed turbines akin to Nordic's, while SWAY has a three-bladed design that faces the rotor downwind, bucking the industry's conventional into-the-wind orientation.
The attraction for all three companies to pursue innovative approaches is essentially the same: their designs could be substantially lighter than today's turbines, and could thus produce energy at much lower cost. That remains an important goal for wind power, which, though presently the cheapest form of renewable-power generation, remains dependent on government incentives.
What sets Nordic apart from others rethinking wind-turbine architecture is that its prototypes have been operating successfully for over a decade. Backed by Goldman Sachs since 2007 and now by the DOE, the company plans to begin shipping commercial models later this year. Nordic's experience should help overcome skepticism that such alternative designs can be robust in megawatt-scale machines--skepticism that was reinforced by earlier, failed experiments with two-bladed and downwind turbines.
Nordic Windpower CEO Tom Carbone, who formerly led the U.S. operations of Danish wind-turbine giant Vestas, says that Nordic's key technology is the "teetered hub" that the two blades use. Nordic's hub provides a flexible link between the rotor and the generator driveshaft, enabling the blades to move in and out of the plane of rotation in response to gusts or turbulence. Carbone says Nordic's lightweight design can deliver a whopping 20-25 percent cost reduction relative to three-bladed turbines.
Bumpers constrain the hinging to just two degrees in either direction, but that is enough to shed unwanted forces that would otherwise strain the turbine's gearbox. Shedding unwanted forces also means that the entire structure, from tower to generator to blades, can be built lighter and cheaper. "You're reducing the amount of material normally used to strengthen the structure against those loads," says Carbone.
A continuously variable transmission could lead to cheaper wind power--if it is rugged enough.
The wind turbine design that may warrant such funding is the high efficiency, low profile design that was in development by TMA Global Wind Turbine Systems / TMA Inc. This promised greater application worldwide and superior performance than two or three blade horizontal-axis wind turbines! Please tell me when we can purchase them?
... and why is there no collaboration with http://whalepower.com or others?. It seems to me all these evolutionary steps are never combined to produce the ultimate system where everybody wins.
good point about combining. it seems that is the case for any number of novel technologies. there should be some office to promote collaboration in engineering to market complementary new energy technologies.
The article says the turbine puts out 1000 megawatts. I for one would love to see a gigawatt turbine. :D
The actual figure is 1000 kW, one megawatt.
Nordic Windpower owns the Technology
Hello all - I just wanted to clarify a few points that were made in the commentary - Nordic Windpower owns the technology, they acquired it in 2007 from the Norwegian/Swedish entity that owned it. They have invested heavily in updating the technology, materials and controls. They are making the "Volvo of Wind Turbines" even safer and more reliable then before for community and distributed wind applications.
Re: Nordic Windpower owns the Technology
I was happy to see that someone was paying attention, by being knowledeable in the history---thank you
Response to Grinch01 - New is not always better...this is better
The technology is proven over many years of operations in the harsh climates of Sweden, and virtually maintenance free, because of the patented teeter-hub that enables a flexible, lighter, simpler two-bladed design that few have been able to achieve. The flexible technology protects the drive train and gear box, and dissipates turbulent winds harmlessly, increasing reliability and lowering maintenance. According to the DOE release, Nordic will be creating at least 75 jobs right here in the USA within the next year.
The problem with all these down wind turbines is tower "pop" (BOOM!) noise.
I know, I owned a Carter 350 and it produced a lot of power and a lot of noise. The tower pop could be clearly heard down wind 4 miles away and on a bad day 6 miles away.
One time this produced a resonance of the air in our house and oh sh1t was it sickening till I could get on line and shut it down!
In the end somebody "felled it", due I'm told to the noise. By that time I had sold it back to the UK company.
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Guest (Grinch01)
Two bladed tech is not new.
"Swedish Technology" - This seems crazy? Carter Wind Energy (CWE) - has developed one of the most material efficient and simple two bladed downwind teetering turbine systems and has been around for decades. Why DOE would want to guarantee loans (using taxpayer money) for another imported tech - that looks like an upwind two-bladed design with the same problems of the Danish three bladed designs and the same massive hub - leaves me almost speechless.
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Gurthang
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Re: Two bladed tech is not new.
My guess looking at both websites is that Nordic already has 1+ MW turbines of this design and Carter does not. I suspect there is more to it than that and I have no doubt Carter is trying to get a piece of that tax payer pie as well. As to the tech not being from the US.. who cares.. Really what is the problem with a US company licensing some tech from Europe and making a good product. It is a US company making the product here why shouldn't they. Are you going to suggest we should boycot all vehicles with diesel engines because it was not invented here?
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