Beijing March 21st, news, in order to promote similar wind power and traditional fossil fuel power generation, GE, Virginia Polytechnic University and the United States Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will jointly carry out research and development projects, with a view to completely change the fan blade design, Production and installation methods.
Since most of the cost of wind power comes from the initial investment cost of the wind turbine itself, new technologies that reduce these initial costs will effectively reduce the overall cost of wind power.
"GE is weaving advanced wind turbine blades, which will drive our clean energy future," said Wendy Lin, chief engineer of GE's Global R&D Center and director of the US Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) program, Wendy Lin: "We are The development of fabric-type blades will be stronger and more flexible, easier to install and maintain. This just depicts a clear path that will make wind power even more competitive than fossil fuel power generation."
GE believes that this new design will reduce the cost of wind turbine blades by 25% to 40%, making wind power and fossil fuels generate similar power costs without government subsidies.
GE's research will focus on the use of fabrics on the structure of the blade, wrapping it on the metal structure, which is like a fish skeleton. The fabric will be pulled tight and covered on the skeleton to meet the needs of the fan blade operation. The traditional fan blade is based on glass fiber and is made of resin, so it is heavier and requires more manpower and time for manufacturing.
The development of blade technology will promote the development of larger and lighter wind turbines, which will capture more wind at lower wind speeds. Due to the limitations of design, production, installation and transportation, current technology is difficult to make the diameter of the fan rotor exceed 120 meters. Wider and longer fan blades are more difficult to handle and handle, and the cost of molds for the production of conchoidal fiberglass structures is as high as a million dollars. GE's new fabric-type blade production technology can remove all these obstacles.
It is precisely because of the new method of producing fan blades that these components can be assembled on site. This means that design engineers no longer have to worry about the limitations caused by production and transportation. Overall, these technical improvements will help reduce the initial cost of wind turbines, as well as the final cost of wind power.
It is estimated that the United States wants to achieve a wind power ratio of 20%, and the demand for wind turbine blades will increase by 50%. However, due to the current technology that limits the size of wind turbines, this goal is actually difficult to achieve. Lighter fan blades will contribute to this goal.
"Developing larger pairs of wind turbine blades will allow wind power to enter regions that we don't see today as suitable for capturing wind energy. Areas with moderate wind speeds, such as the Midwestern United States, will contribute to the development of the wind energy industry in the coming years," said Lin. .
This use of fabrics to reduce weight and provide cost-effective fabric skin technology dates back to World War I, when it was used on aircraft. Over the years, fabrics have proven to be very robust and reliable. GE has begun using similar technologies in the wind turbine tower to achieve better aesthetics, lower costs and better protection.
This $5.6 million project will last for three years. GE is developing a fabric-type fan blade architecture that will achieve a service life of 20 years without the need for regular maintenance of the fabric.
By 2012, the total installed capacity of GE wind turbines had exceeded 20,000 units, and the total installed capacity of GE fans in 30 countries and regions exceeded 28 GW. In China, the total installed capacity of GE fans in China exceeds 1,000 units.
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