Analysis of Ideal Towers for Tall Wind Applications

Conference · Fri Jan 12 00:00:00 EST 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2018-0999· OSTI ID:1433483

Dykes, Katherine L ^[1]; Damiani, Rick R ^[1]; Roberts, Joseph O ^[1]; Lantz, Eric J ^[1]

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1. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Innovation in wind turbine tower design is of significant interest for future development of wind power plants. First, wind turbine towers account for a large portion of overall capital expenditures for wind power projects. Second, for low wind-resource regions of the world, the use of low-cost tall-tower technology has the potential to open new markets for development. This study investigates the relative potential of various tower configurations in terms of mass and cost. For different market applications and hub heights, idealized tall towers are designed and compared. The results show that innovation in wind turbine controls makes reaching higher hub heights with current technology economically viable. At the same time, new technologies hold promise for reducing tower costs as these technologies mature and hub heights reach twice the current average.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Wind and Water Technologies Office (EE-4W)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1433483
• Report Number(s): NREL/CP-5000-71326
• Resource Relation: Conference: Presented at the 2018 Wind Energy Symposium at the AIAA SciTech Forum, 8-12 January 2018, Kissimmee, Florida
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

17 WIND ENERGY
42 ENGINEERING
tall towers
wind
optimization