Sandia National Laboratory

Rotating Laser on Texas Wind Turbine to Improve Accuracy of Wind Industry Simulation Tools

In partnership with General Electric (GE), and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO), researchers at Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) successfully installed and deployed a device called a spinner lidar on the hub — the structure that connects blades to … [continued]

Heartland Community College in Normal, Illinois, uses power generated by a 1.65-MW Vestas wind turbine. Photo from Harvest the Wind Network.

Remote & Rural Communities Boosted By Distributed Wind Energy

Four-Year, Multilab Project Evaluates How Communities Can Safely, Effectively, and Efficiently Benefit from Distributed Wind Energy No roads lead to St. Mary’s, Alaska. To get there, most people boat down the nearby Yukon River, which is almost as wide as the village itself. That same route is used to bring … [continued]

Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Initiative — 3-Year Project To Improve American Wind Turbine Production

A 3-year, $6.3 million dollar project to improve every aspect of the American wind turbine production process/industry was recently begun via a partnership between Sandia National Laboratories, Iowa State University, and TPI Composites (an operator of a wind turbine blade factory). The project — the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Initiative — … [continued]

Technology Played Key Role In Wind Industry Growth

By American Wind Energy Association. Washington, D.C. — American wind energy generation has outpaced the growth in new wind power capacity thanks to innovative technological advancements. Over the past five years, U.S. wind energy capacity grew from 25,000 megawatts (MW) to over 61,000 MW, a 140 percent growth rate, yet … [continued]