A modern wind turbine has more than 8,000 component parts that must withstand the wear and tear of wind stresses. DOE researchers and stakeholders have been working hard to predict and eliminate wind stress related barriers and extend the lifespan of wind turbines. Working on a paper on this subject? OSTI can save you wear and tear by providing web tools that eliminate the need to search through database after database to find the research you need. For example, if you use DOE’s Science Accelerator [3], you could search through 11 DOE databases [4], and in about 10 seconds or less, retrieve hundreds of documents about the use of simulations to understand wind turbine shear stress [5]. You could learn about wind turbine gearbox reliability [6] in Energy Citations Database, a database that contains research results submitted by DOE offices, national labs and technology centers [7] and their contractors. Or you have the option to search the resources of 13 government agencies in Science.gov [8] to instantly find thousands of records about wind turbine stress prediction [9] and other related topics. Avoid wear and tear. Visit these and other great time saving resources at www.osti.gov [10].
For more information on wind power, see In the OSTI Collections: Wind Power [11].
Kathy Chambers, OSTI Staff
it is quite clear that there is a tremendous amount of money required to maintain wind turbines as there are so many components that can break. What would be nice to know is if these energy producers are really a liability or an asset and to what degree.
As a resident of Colorado, yesterday NPR announced that one of the local solar energy companies will layoff approximately half of its workforce. Although they may not be creating wind turbines, the matter of profitibility is still in question. I assume that this is in large part due to the lack of orders and wonder if the same conditions apply to the turbines.