HOUSTON: The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has announced new projects throughout the United States at today's American Wind Energy Association Windpower 2008 Conference.
These projects include: a new wind turbine blade test facility in Texas, run as a partnership between NREL, DOE and a state consortium led by University of Houston; an agreement with Siemens Power Generation to locate and test a commercial-scale wind turbine facility at the National Wind Technology Center; and a new Siemens research and development facility in Boulder, Colorado, which will work closely with NREL on wind power technology.
The Texas-NREL Large Blade Research and Test Facility will be at Ingleside, Texas. NREL will provide technical and operational assistance, while DOE will fund US$2 million in capital costs for the facility. The facility will be capable of testing blades up to 230 feet (70 m) in length.
In partnership with Siemens Power Generation, a 2.3 MW, SWT-2.3-101 commercial wind turbine will be built at NREL's 305-acre National Wind Technology Center, where NREL and Siemens researchers will conduct a full array of tests to evaluate existing systems and develop new ones for next-generation technologies. The work, which will be conducted under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between NREL and Siemens, will encompass power quality, noise emissions, rotor aerodynamics, load factors during normal operation and under severe operating condition.
Simultaneously, Siemens will construct and begin operation of its first U.S.-based wind technology research and development center, to be located north of the NREL National Wind Technology Center, in Boulder.
