New simulation tools and data collection capabilities now available for wind power research [3] are creating a lot of excitement and significant advances in the wind energy industry. For example, DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory [4](NREL) tripled previous estimates of U.S. wind power potential [5] by using advanced wind mapping and validation techniques. New wind development areas were also identified where the wind resource was previously considered unsuitable.
OSTI’s Energy Citations Database [6]makes available a conference paper “State of the Art in Floating Wind Turbine Design Tools [7]” that reviews simulation codes available to the offshore wind industry to potentially use deep water resources. Multi-megawatt wind turbines [8], complete with extensive sets of instrumentation, are now available to DOE and their partners to sustain wind technology development. Next-generation modeling tools are being used to assess individual turbine performance (see photo) as well as turbine-to-turbine interactions. And, Building State-of-the-Art Wind Technology Testing Facilities [9] describes the capability to test blades up to 90 meters in length. Read more about the exciting wind power research in the OSTI Collections. [10]