68-596: Enercon GmbH is a wind turbine manufacturer based in Aurich , Lower Saxony , Germany. It has been the market leader in Germany since the mid-1990s. Enercon has production facilities in Germany (Aurich, Emden and Magdeburg ), Brazil , India , Canada , Turkey and Portugal . In June 2010, Enercon announced that they would be setting up Irish headquarters in Tralee . The Aloys-Wobben-foundation of founder Aloys Wobben
136-555: A "*" mean the turbine either temporarily unavailable, or has been taken off sale permanently. 4.2MW Enercon was prohibited from exporting their wind turbines to the US until 2010 due to alleged infringement of U.S. patent 5,083,039 . In a dispute before the United States International Trade Commission , Enercon did not challenge the validity of the US patent but argued that their technology
204-402: A blade length up to 80 meters (260 ft). Designs with 10 to 12 MW were in preparation in 2018, and a "15 MW+" prototype with three 118-metre (387 ft) blades is planned to be constructed in 2022. The average hub height of horizontal axis wind turbines is 90 meters. Vertical-axis wind turbines (or VAWTs) have the main rotor shaft arranged vertically. One advantage of this arrangement
272-433: A full replacement by carbon fiber would save 80% of weight but increase costs by 150%, while a 30% replacement would save 50% of weight and increase costs by 90%. Hybrid reinforcement materials include E-glass/carbon, E-glass/aramid. The current longest blade by LM Wind Power is made of carbon/glass hybrid composites. More research is needed about the optimal composition of materials. Enercon E-126 The Enercon E-126
340-441: A gearbox, which turns the slow rotation of the blades into a quicker rotation that is more suitable to drive an electrical generator. Some turbines use a different type of generator suited to slower rotational speed input. These don't need a gearbox and are called direct-drive, meaning they couple the rotor directly to the generator with no gearbox in between. While permanent magnet direct-drive generators can be more costly due to
408-412: A greater friction moment and thus a lower power coefficient. The air velocity is the major contributor to the turbine efficiency. This is the reason for the importance of choosing the right location. The wind velocity will be high near the shore because of the temperature difference between the land and the ocean. Another option is to place turbines on mountain ridges. The higher the wind turbine will be,
476-474: A lower blade speed ratio, which lowers blade bending stresses. Straight, V, or curved blades may be used. These are drag-type devices with two (or more) scoops that are used in anemometers, Flettner vents (commonly seen on bus and van roofs), and in some high-reliability low-efficiency power turbines. They are always self-starting if there are at least three scoops. Twisted Savonius is a modified savonius, with long helical scoops to provide smooth torque. This
544-584: A series of batteries . The batteries powered various electrical tools and lamps, as well as a threshing machine. Friedländer's windmill and its accessories were prominently installed at the north entrance to the main exhibition hall (" Rotunde ") in the Vienna Prater . In July 1887, Scottish academic James Blyth installed a battery-charging machine to light his holiday home in Marykirk , Scotland. Some months later, American inventor Charles F. Brush
612-466: A slightly larger rotor (127 m vs 112/114 m) with a new blade profile. For this new model, the sales were also slow, but sometime in 2011, Enercon increased the generator output from 6 MW to 7.58 MW. Sales then began to increase, with the first large-scale purchase of this wind turbine model was at Estinnes wind farm in Belgium, with 11 wind turbines ordered for installation. There are three variants of
680-417: A stable environment. Different materials have varying effects on the efficiency of wind turbines. In an Ege University experiment, three wind turbines, each with three blades with a diameter of one meter, were constructed with blades made of different materials: A glass and glass/carbon epoxy , glass/carbon, and glass/polyester. When tested, the results showed that the materials with higher overall masses had
748-419: Is a major drawback. Vertical turbine designs have much lower efficiency than standard horizontal designs. The key disadvantages include the relatively low rotational speed with the consequential higher torque and hence higher cost of the drive train, the inherently lower power coefficient , the 360-degree rotation of the aerofoil within the wind flow during each cycle and hence the highly dynamic loading on
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#1732775338451816-463: Is an onshore wind turbine model manufactured by the German company Enercon . With a hub height of 135 m (443 ft), rotor diameter of 126 m (413 ft) and a total height of 198 m (650 ft), the turbine can generate up to 7.58 megawatts of power, making it the largest wind turbine in the world (by nameplate capacity ) for several years, until it was overtaken in 2014 by
884-431: Is approximately 50% of the building height it is near the optimum for maximum wind energy and minimum wind turbulence. While wind speeds within the built environment are generally much lower than at exposed rural sites, noise may be a concern and an existing structure may not adequately resist the additional stress. Subtypes of the vertical axis design include: "Eggbeater" turbines, or Darrieus turbines, were named after
952-623: Is determined by the stiffness of fibers and their volume content. Typically, E-glass fibers are used as main reinforcement in the composites. Typically, the glass/epoxy composites for wind turbine blades contain up to 75% glass by weight. This increases the stiffness, tensile and compression strength. A promising composite material is glass fiber with modified compositions like S-glass, R-glass etc. Other glass fibers developed by Owens Corning are ECRGLAS, Advantex and WindStrand. Carbon fiber has more tensile strength, higher stiffness and lower density than glass fiber. An ideal candidate for these properties
1020-574: Is often used as a rooftop wind turbine and has even been adapted for ships . Airborne wind turbines consist of wings or a small aircraft tethered to the ground. They are useful for reaching faster winds above which traditional turbines can operate. There are prototypes in operation in east Africa. These are offshore wind turbines that are supported by a floating platform. By having them float, they are able to be installed in deeper water allowing more of them. This also allows them to be further out of sight from land and therefore less public concern about
1088-649: Is owning the UEE Holding, which owns the Enercon GmbH. Aloys Wobben, Simon Wobben and Hans-Dieter Kettwich control the company. As of December 2017, Enercon had installed more than 26,300 wind turbines, with a power generating capacity exceeding 43 GW. The most-often installed model is the E-40, which pioneered the gearbox-less design in 1993. As of July 2011, Enercon has a market share of 7.2% world-wide (fifth-highest) and 59.2% in Germany. Aloys Wobben founded
1156-520: Is that the turbine does not need to be pointed into the wind to be effective, which is an advantage on a site where the wind direction is highly variable. It is also an advantage when the turbine is integrated into a building because it is inherently less steerable. Also, the generator and gearbox can be placed near the ground, using a direct drive from the rotor assembly to the ground-based gearbox, improving accessibility for maintenance. However, these designs produce much less energy averaged over time, which
1224-486: Is the gearless propulsion concept, which Enercon pioneered since 1993. The first generation of gearless turbines was the E-40/500 ;kW series. (Earlier Enercon designs had a transmission train.) The hub with the rotor blades connects directly to the rotor of the ring generator (direct drive). The rotor unit rotates on a front and rear main bearing about a fixed axis. The speed of the rotor is transmitted directly to
1292-448: Is the spar cap, a structural element of a blade that experiences high tensile loading. A 100-metre (330 ft) glass fiber blade could weigh up to 50 tonnes (110,000 lb), while using carbon fiber in the spar saves 20% to 30% weight, about 15 tonnes (33,000 lb). Instead of making wind turbine blade reinforcements from pure glass or pure carbon, hybrid designs trade weight for cost. For example, for an 8-metre (26 ft) blade,
1360-428: The "lowest relative greenhouse gas emissions, the least water consumption demands and the most favorable social impacts" compared to photovoltaic , hydro , geothermal , coal and gas energy sources. Smaller wind turbines are used for applications such as battery charging and remote devices such as traffic warning signs. Larger turbines can contribute to a domestic power supply while selling unused power back to
1428-542: The ' Windpark Noordoostpolder , part of which would consist of 38 Enercon E-126 7.58 MW wind turbines. An ultimate case for the highest Court of state by opponents was closed on 8 February 2012, confirming the government decision. In 2011 it was expected preparatory works would start before the summer of 2012. In France , a pending approval for the wind farm 'Le Mont des 4 Faux', consisting of an initial number of 52 Enercon E-126 7.58 MW wind turbines but in April 2012 reduced to
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#17327753384511496-501: The 11th and 12th centuries; there are reports of German crusaders taking their windmill-making skills to Syria around 1190. By the 14th century, Dutch windmills were in use to drain areas of the Rhine delta. Advanced wind turbines were described by Croatian inventor Fausto Veranzio in his book Machinae Novae (1595). He described vertical axis wind turbines with curved or V-shaped blades. The first electricity-generating wind turbine
1564-664: The 2-3.5 MW class, or wind turbines of the 5-8 MW class. This approach is at least applied in the Netherlands. Examples for this trend are found for instance in the preliminary research for the "Wind farm de Drentse Monden" aiming at 300-450 MW with possibly 50-60 E-126/7.5 MW turbines, "Wind farm N33" aiming at >120 MW with possibly 15-40 E-126/7.5 MW turbines, "Wind farm Krammer" aiming at >100 MW with possibly 11-21 E-126/7.5 MW turbines, "Wind farm Wieringermeer" aiming 200-400 MW with possibly 60 or more 6+ MW turbines (in that case possibly Repower 6M/6.15MW). In September 2010,
1632-617: The 7th century. These " Panemone " were vertical axle windmills, which had long vertical drive shafts with rectangular blades. Made of six to twelve sails covered in reed matting or cloth material, these windmills were used to grind grain or draw up water, and were used in the gristmilling and sugarcane industries. Wind power first appeared in Europe during the Middle Ages . The first historical records of their use in England date to
1700-592: The Aloys-Wobbe-Stiftung. The foundations owns the UEE Holding, which Enercon belongs to. Over 30 supply companys exclusively work for Enercon. In 2018 some of them like WEC Turmbau Emden, WEC Turmbau Magdeburg and Aero Ems GmbH announced, that they would fire employees, in total 800 workes. Enercon declraed these companys would be completely independend. In fact, the companies belong to the "Grp Aloys B A Wobben Breeze Trust" based in Luxembourg and
1768-521: The Betz limit of power extractable from the wind, at rated operating speed. Efficiency can decrease slightly over time, one of the main reasons being dust and insect carcasses on the blades, which alter the aerodynamic profile and essentially reduce the lift to drag ratio of the airfoil . Analysis of 3128 wind turbines older than 10 years in Denmark showed that half of the turbines had no decrease, while
1836-545: The British Virgin Islands through nested ownership structures. At the time, the NDR assumed that the structure was set up so that Aloys Wobben could skim off his profits but not have to make any social obligations to his employees. In 1984 Aloys Wobben founded a wind turbine manufacturer called Enercon in Aurich by developing and producing wind turbines with three employees. In 1993, Wobben switched production to
1904-514: The Danish company Vestas with their V164-8.0 turbine. Their model number is a reference to their rotor diameter. The project had come about after Enercon decided to pursue a larger turbine than the 2MW E-66. For some time, Enercon worked on the E-112 project - a turbine with a generator output of 2.25x the 2MW E-66, with it eventually being available for sale sometime in 2002. Enercon then tweaked
1972-401: The E-112's rotor diameter from 112m to 114m, for a slight benefit in efficiency. The turbine didn't sell well - only two 4.5 MW units exist as of today, which prompted Enercon to increase the generator output from 4.5 MW to 6 MW. However, while the generator power output increase did increase sales, by 2008 sales were essentially non-existent, due to two key factors : Unfortunately for Enercon,
2040-549: The E-126, of which are: EP3 low-wind, EP4 mid-wind and EP8 high-wind models. For the sake of simplicity, this article focuses on the EP8 E-126. The power output of the generator was 6 MW , but has been uprated to 7.58 MW after technical revisions were performed in 2009. Since 2011 the E-126 is available as a 7.6 MW nameplate capacity. The E-126 incorporates power electronics and offers grid stabilising capabilities. The weight of
2108-616: The E-33 and 5-11.7 RPM for the E-126 depending on wind speed, while a geared generator has a speed of about 1500 RPM at rated power. Thus the large Enercon generators lead to high tower head masses, and construction and logistical challenges. In 2022, the first integrated box-shaped nacelles with inverter and transformer reduced logistics - all previous Enercon turbines had power systems in the tower base. Most Enercon systems are visually distinct from systems of other manufacturers. Their nacelles have been drop-shaped since 1995/1996. This unique design
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2176-470: The French inventor, Georges Darrieus. They have good efficiency, but produce large torque ripple and cyclical stress on the tower, which contributes to poor reliability. They also generally require some external power source, or an additional Savonius rotor to start turning, because the starting torque is very low. The torque ripple is reduced by using three or more blades, which results in greater solidity of
2244-477: The United States from 5 kilowatts (kW) to 25 kW. Around the time of World War I, American windmill makers were producing 100,000 farm windmills each year, mostly for water-pumping. By the 1930s, use of wind turbines in rural areas was declining as the distribution system extended to those areas. A forerunner of modern horizontal-axis wind generators was in service at Yalta , USSR, in 1931. This
2312-443: The air arrives at the turbine. The maximum theoretical power output of a wind machine is thus 16 ⁄ 27 times the rate at which kinetic energy of the air arrives at the effective disk area of the machine. If the effective area of the disk is A, and the wind velocity v, the maximum theoretical power output P is: where ρ is the air density . Wind-to-rotor efficiency (including rotor blade friction and drag ) are among
2380-460: The alleged industrial espionage against Enercon was the forwarding of details of Wobben 's generator technology to a US firm. From 2008 to 2020, Enercon was part owner of a railway company, that among other things owns the Abelitz–Aurich railway , (via de:Eisenbahninfrastrukturgesellschaft Aurich-Emden ) which is used to deliver wind turbine blades made by Enercon via rail to customers. During
2448-421: The belief that the turbine's massive nameplate capacity would market itself to operators backfired, and it became a massive failure, with only 9 being ever installed, and this failure prompted Enercon to start tweaking the design. Enercon's new E-126 project, from the outset, didn't seem to be a massive change from the E-112, but rather an evolution of the model with a slightly higher hub height (135 m vs. 124 m) and
2516-430: The blade, the pulsating torque generated by some rotor designs on the drive train, and the difficulty of modelling the wind flow accurately and hence the challenges of analysing and designing the rotor prior to fabricating a prototype. When a turbine is mounted on a rooftop the building generally redirects wind over the roof and this can double the wind speed at the turbine. If the height of a rooftop mounted turbine tower
2584-580: The blades snapped off. The unit was not repaired, because of a shortage of materials during the war. The first utility grid-connected wind turbine to operate in the UK was built by John Brown & Company in 1951 in the Orkney Islands . In the early 1970s, however, anti-nuclear protests in Denmark spurred artisan mechanics to develop microturbines of 22 kW despite declines in the industry. Organizing owners into associations and co-operatives led to
2652-414: The blades upwind of the tower ( i.e. blades facing the incoming wind) produce the overwhelming majority of wind power in the world today. These turbines have the main rotor shaft and electrical generator at the top of a tower and must be pointed into the wind. Small turbines are pointed by a simple wind vane , while large turbines generally use a wind sensor coupled with a yaw system. Most have
2720-504: The day of the Russian full scale invasion of Ukraine , the remote maintenance units of 5,800 Enercon wind turbines were affected by a suspected Russian cyber attack on the satellite system operator Viasat and had to be replaced. According to Forbes , Aloys Wobben had a net worth of $ 7.1 billion as of August 2021. Enercon wind turbines have some special technical features compared to turbines of most other manufacturers. Characteristic
2788-414: The energy converted to electrical energy. Since outgoing wind will still possess some kinetic energy, there must be a maximum proportion of the input energy that is available to be converted to electrical energy. Accordingly, Betz's law gives the maximal achievable extraction of wind power by a wind turbine, known as Betz's coefficient, as 16 ⁄ 27 (59.3%) of the rate at which the kinetic energy of
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2856-453: The factors affecting the final price of wind power. Further inefficiencies, such as gearbox , generator, and converter losses, reduce the power delivered by a wind turbine. To protect components from undue wear, extracted power is held constant above the rated operating speed as theoretical power increases as the cube of wind speed, further reducing theoretical efficiency. In 2001, commercial utility-connected turbines delivered 75% to 80% of
2924-715: The foundation of the turbine tower is about 2,500 t, the tower itself 2,800 t, the machine housing 128 t, the generator 220 t, the rotor (including the blade) 364 t. The total weight is 6,012 tonnes exactly. The first turbine of this model was installed in Emden, Germany in 2007, at Rysumer Nacken Wind Park . The list price of one unit is $ 14 million plus install costs. In June 2012, at least 147 Enercon E-126 windturbines were operating, in construction, or nearing final approval, 35 of them completed and operating. Furthermore, during 2010-2011, onshore wind farm projects still in their early design processes were considering wind turbines of
2992-478: The gearless wind turbine with a full converter; a Technology that he had developed. The Enercon E-40 turbine met expectations and was gained worldwide success. Wobben withdrew from the operational business in 2012 and transferred his company shares to the Aloys-Wobben Foundation with effect from 1 October 2012. Since 2016 his neff Simon Wobben is part of the managing team. On 24 February 2022,
3060-998: The generator, is 15.24 meters (50.0 ft) and weighs around 300 tons. Due to data transmission problems, structural health monitoring of wind turbines is usually performed using several accelerometers and strain gages attached to the nacelle to monitor the gearbox and equipment. Currently, digital image correlation and stereophotogrammetry are used to measure dynamics of wind turbine blades. These methods usually measure displacement and strain to identify location of defects. Dynamic characteristics of non-rotating wind turbines have been measured using digital image correlation and photogrammetry. Three dimensional point tracking has also been used to measure rotating dynamics of wind turbines. Generally, efficiency increases along with turbine blade lengths. The blades must be stiff, strong, durable, light and resistant to fatigue. Materials with these properties include composites such as polyester and epoxy, while glass fiber and carbon fiber have been used for
3128-416: The high-pole synchronous generator, where the rotor rotates in the stator, differently. The Enercon generator has no permanent magnets, allowing the company to not rely on rare-earth metals. However, the direct connection also causes grid losses. Rotation speed and the mechanical load changes over the service life are lower than geared systems. Rotation speed varies from 18 to 45 revolutions per minute (RPM) for
3196-411: The higher the wind velocity on average. A windbreak can also increase the wind velocity near the turbine. Wind turbines can rotate about either a horizontal or a vertical axis, the former being both older and more common. They can also include blades or be bladeless. Household-size vertical designs produce less power and are less common. Large three-bladed horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWT) with
3264-758: The lobbying of the government and utilities and provided incentives for larger turbines throughout the 1980s and later. Local activists in Germany, nascent turbine manufacturers in Spain, and large investors in the United States in the early 1990s then lobbied for policies that stimulated the industry in those countries. It has been argued that expanding the use of wind power will lead to increasing geopolitical competition over critical materials for wind turbines, such as rare earth elements neodymium , praseodymium , and dysprosium . However, this perspective has been critically dismissed for failing to relay how most wind turbines do not use permanent magnets and for underestimating
3332-509: The market with blade tips similar to the winglets on aircraft. In 2008, the first E-126 turbines (successor of the E-112) were installed at sites throughout Germany and Belgium, including the Estinnes wind farm (consisting of eleven E-126 turbines) in Belgium. Although the E-126 turbine was initially developed with a power rating of 6 MW, it has since been upgraded to 7.5 MW. The E-82 turbine
3400-562: The other half saw a production decrease of 1.2% per year. In general, more stable and constant weather conditions (most notably wind speed) result in an average of 15% greater efficiency than that of a wind turbine in unstable weather conditions, thus allowing up to a 7% increase in wind speed under stable conditions. This is due to a faster recovery wake and greater flow entrainment that occur in conditions of higher atmospheric stability. However, wind turbine wakes have been found to recover faster under unstable atmospheric conditions as opposed to
3468-439: The power of economic incentives for the expanded production of these minerals. Wind Power Density (WPD) is a quantitative measure of wind energy available at any location. It is the mean annual power available per square meter of swept area of a turbine, and is calculated for different heights above ground. Calculation of wind power density includes the effect of wind velocity and air density. Wind turbines are classified by
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#17327753384513536-469: The rare earth materials required, these gearless turbines are sometimes preferred over gearbox generators because they "eliminate the gear-speed increaser, which is susceptible to significant accumulated fatigue torque loading, related reliability issues, and maintenance costs". There is also the pseudo direct drive mechanism, which has some advantages over the permanent magnet direct drive mechanism. Most horizontal axis turbines have their rotors upwind of
3604-435: The reinforcing. Construction may involve manual layup or injection molding. Retrofitting existing turbines with larger blades reduces the task and risks of redesign. As of 2021, the longest blade was 115.5 m (379 ft), producing 15 MW. Blades usually last around 20 years, the typical lifespan of a wind turbine. Materials commonly used in wind turbine blades are described below. The stiffness of composites
3672-436: The rotor. Solidity is measured by the blade area divided by the rotor area. A subtype of Darrieus turbine with straight, as opposed to curved, blades. The cycloturbine variety has variable pitch to reduce the torque pulsation and is self-starting. The advantages of variable pitch are high starting torque; a wide, relatively flat torque curve; a higher coefficient of performance ; more efficient operation in turbulent winds; and
3740-420: The supporting tower. Downwind machines have been built, because they don't need an additional mechanism for keeping them in line with the wind. In high winds, downwind blades can also be designed to bend more than upwind ones, which reduces their swept area and thus their wind resistance, mitigating risk during gales. Despite these advantages, upwind designs are preferred, because the pulsing change in loading from
3808-698: The time Enercon part-owned the rail line, the company undertook large scale investments in its infrastructure In 2020 Enercon sold its rail ventures To Hermann Bettels GmbH. Wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy . As of 2020 , hundreds of thousands of large turbines , in installations known as wind farms , were generating over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. Wind turbines are an increasingly important source of intermittent renewable energy , and are used in many countries to lower energy costs and reduce reliance on fossil fuels . One study claimed that, as of 2009, wind had
3876-490: The utility supplier via the electrical grid . Wind turbines are manufactured in a wide range of sizes, with either horizontal or vertical axes, though horizontal is most common. The windwheel of Hero of Alexandria (10–70 CE) marks one of the first recorded instances of wind powering a machine. However, the first known practical wind power plants were built in Sistan , an Eastern province of Persia (now Iran), from
3944-491: The visual appeal. Wind turbine design is a careful balance of cost, energy output, and fatigue life. Wind turbines convert wind energy to electrical energy for distribution. Conventional horizontal axis turbines can be divided into three components: A 1.5 ( MW ) wind turbine of a type frequently seen in the United States has a tower 80 meters (260 ft) high. The rotor assembly (blades and hub) measures about 80 meters (260 ft) in diameter. The nacelle , which contains
4012-514: The wind as each blade passes behind the supporting tower can cause damage to the turbine. Turbines used in wind farms for commercial production of electric power are usually three-bladed. These have low torque ripple , which contributes to good reliability. The blades are usually colored white for daytime visibility by aircraft and range in length from 20 to 80 meters (66 to 262 ft). The size and height of turbines increase year by year. Offshore wind turbines are built up to 8 MW today and have
4080-406: The wind speed they are designed for, from class I to class III, with A to C referring to the turbulence intensity of the wind. Conservation of mass requires that the mass of air entering and exiting a turbine must be equal. Likewise, the conservation of energy requires the energy given to the turbine from incoming wind to be equal to that of the combination of the energy in the outgoing wind and
4148-510: The world's first wind farm consisting entirely of Enercon E-126 turbines (11 turbines in total), was completed in Estinnes, Belgium . This wind farm is capable, at max capacity, to supply 55,000 residences with pure wind energy. This wind farm, though, has one 6 MW unit, so this reduces the wind farm's peak capacity from 83.38 MW to 81.8 MW. The Markbygden Wind Farm is planned to have 1,101 turbines covering 500 km , to generate 4,000 MW and an annual yield up to 12 TWh, making it one of
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#17327753384514216-416: The world's largest wind farms. Under construction in northern Sweden, it will contain a mix of Enercon E-126 7.58 MW wind turbines and Enercon E-101 3.05 MW wind turbines, the exact number of each type to be determined by further studies. The pilot stage wind farm at Dragaliden was completed in 2010, generating 24 MW with 12 turbines. The Netherlands government gave its final approval on 6 January 2011 for
4284-471: Was a 100 kW generator on a 30-meter (98 ft) tower, connected to the local 6.3 kV distribution system. It was reported to have an annual capacity factor of 32 percent, not much different from current wind machines. In the autumn of 1941, the first megawatt-class wind turbine was synchronized to a utility grid in Vermont . The Smith–Putnam wind turbine only ran for about five years before one of
4352-858: Was able to build the first automatically operated wind turbine after consulting local University professors and his colleagues Jacob S. Gibbs and Brinsley Coleberd and successfully getting the blueprints peer-reviewed for electricity production. Although Blyth's turbine was considered uneconomical in the United Kingdom, electricity generation by wind turbines was more cost effective in countries with widely scattered populations. In Denmark by 1900, there were about 2500 windmills for mechanical loads such as pumps and mills, producing an estimated combined peak power of about 30 megawatts (MW). The largest machines were on 24-metre (79 ft) towers with four-bladed 23-metre (75 ft) diameter rotors. By 1908, there were 72 wind-driven electric generators operating in
4420-418: Was also upgraded and is available in 2, 2.3, and 3 MW versions. Currently Enercon does not offer or supply wind turbines to offshore projects and has at times expressed skepticism about offshore wind parks. Enercon was rumored to have been ready to supply turbines to Germany's Alpha Ventus offshore wind farm and to a near-shore park near Wilhelmshaven but did not do so. Note: wind turbine designations with
4488-473: Was developed by British architect Norman Foster, who also designed the dome of the Berlin Reichstag. In Germany and many other countries, the tower has coloured green rings above the foundation, which get brighter from bottom to top. On islands such as Borkum, the gradation is blue. The NCS grading is intended to better integrate the plant towers into the horizon. The rotor blades were the only ones on
4556-579: Was installed by the Austrian Josef Friedländer at the Vienna International Electrical Exhibition in 1883. It was a Halladay windmill for driving a dynamo . Friedländer's 6.6 m (22 ft) diameter Halladay "wind motor" was supplied by U.S. Wind Engine & Pump Co. of Batavia , Illinois . The 3.7 kW (5 hp) windmill drove a dynamo at ground level that fed electricity into
4624-417: Was not affected. The ITC decided that the patent covered the technology in question and banned Enercon turbines from the US market until 2010. Later, a cross patent agreement was made with the competitor General Electric , the successor of Kenetech, after similar claims of Enercon against GE. According to a NSA employee detailed information concerning Enercon was passed on to Kenetech via ECHELON . The aim of
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