Believing that there are unique opportunities for growth in the midsize wind turbine market in the near future, the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is launching a midsize turbine development project with a half-day workshop on Nov. 6 at the Cobo Center in Detroit.
The purpose of the workshop is to facilitate collaboration between wind turbine designers and U.S. manufacturers, as well as to build awareness of this new project. The project will support the development and commercialization of midsize wind turbines by assisting U.S. manufacturers and wind turbine designers in producing near-term commercial value-engineered midsize turbine prototypes, according to NREL.
Since the early 1990s, the wind energy industry has experienced substantial growth in both the utility and residential markets. However, the midsize wind turbine, which is defined as any wind turbine with a capacity rating of between 100 kW and 1 MW, has not experienced the same growth, because there are only a few models available for purchase, NREL says.
‘Based on a 2008 market assessment by ICF International, there is an estimated market potential of 220 GW for technologically enhanced midsized turbines,’ says Trudy Forsyth, of NREL's distributed wind energy technology projects.
The half-day workshop will include panel presentations by turbine designers and U.S. manufacturers and will provide attendees with an opportunity to network and learn about the anatomy of a midsize turbine and existing and future manufacturing opportunities.
SOURCE: National Renewable Energy Laboratory
