The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently announced that it and Gamesa Technology Corp., one of the world’s leading wind turbine companies, are planning to “study and test a variety of components and systems that will guide development of the next generation of wind turbines designed specifically for the U.S. marketplace.”

There are three key areas where Gamesa and NREL are collaborating:

• “developing new wind turbine components and rotors for the U.S. market;”
• “researching and testing the performance of new control strategies;”
• “devising models that will help advance the development of offshore wind in U.S. coastal waters.”

This is the kind of public-private partnership that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside—it’s really great to see a leading renewable energy lab and wind energy company innovating together.

NREL states that its “wind technology center is the most extensive wind-turbine testing facility in the nation” and that Gamesa has already “installed and commissioned a G97 Class IIIA 2.0 MW test wind turbine at NREL’s National Wind Technology Center near Boulder, Colo.”

Since being introduced last year, Gamesa’s G9X-2.0 MW turbine platform has gained recognition for its advanced blade design, updated nacelle, enhanced control systems and other features that increase energy output substantially. The G97 Class IIIA 2.0 MW model, which will serve as the test platform with NREL, is designed specifically for low-wind sites, a segment from which Gamesa expects more than half of all future on-shore demand.

Using Gamesa’s turbine platform as a laboratory, researchers will study the behavior of systems and how new designs, products or equipment can affect performance.

For more, check out the NREL piece on the collaboration.

Gamesa G9X 2.0 wind turbine via Gamesa

Zachary Shahan (2303 Posts)

I'm the director of CleanTechnica, the most popular clean energy website in the world, and Planetsave, a leading green and science news site. I've been covering green news of various sorts since 2008, and I've been especially focused on solar energy, electric vehicles, bicycling, and wind energy for the past few years. You can also find my work on Scientific American, Reuters, Think Progress, GE's ecomagination site, several sites in the Important Media network, & many other places. To connect on some of your favorite social networks, go to zacharyshahan.com or click on some of the links below.