Renewables U.S. Researchers Developing 50-MW Wind Turbines Though the biggest currently-functioning offshore wind turbines top out below 10 MW, researchers lead by the University of Virginia are hoping to develop a 50-MW wind turbine with blades 200 meters in length. Clarion Energy Content Directors 9.10.2017 Share By Editors of Power Engineering Though the biggest currently-functioning offshore wind turbines top out below 10 MW, researchers lead by the University of Virginia are hoping to develop a 50-MW wind turbine with blades 200 meters in length. The Segmented Ultralight Morphing Rotor Project was awarded a three-year grant of more than $3.5 million by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, CNBC reported. Researchers hope such a large-scale project would reduce energy costs by 50 percent. While traditionally-designed wind blades become expensive and so heavy they strike their towers at extreme scales, the project uses a blade design that morphs and sways with the wind like a palm tree, which reduces structural requirements. Segmenting the blade design will also ease manufacturing and transportation constraints. Though the finished product will use a tower roughly the size of the Eiffel Tower, the project will test the blades in Colorado on a 12-story tower. Sandia National Labs will develop the project’s structural configuration, while the University of Colorado and the Colorado School of Mines are creating a control system that pitches and morphs the turbine’s blades. Related Articles Federal hostility could delay offshore wind projects, derailing state climate goals Lightning protection for composite wind turbine blades demonstrated Here’s how Consumers Energy is working toward clean energy goals Pacific Gas & Electric scores $15B conditional loan to expand hydropower, battery energy storage, and transmission
