Will Brazil take the lead on wind energy in the Americas?

(Read this story at WindEnergyUpdate.com)

Blessed with a strong, consistent wind resource that rivals the blustery coasts of Europe and the United States, Brazil is on track to increase its wind energy capacity fivefold by 2013, further establishing the ethanol and hydroelectric giant as Latin America’s green energy leader.

By Bob Moser, Brazil correspondent
Nov. 12, 2010

For multinational firms taking a toe dip in the Brazilian market, and for those on the outside peering in, significant questions remain over the country’s ability to solve logistical transport issues, develop a regional supply chain and spur public policy that will unleash a steady stream of investment. But with an estimated 350 GW of onshore capacity alone, combined with large unpopulated land areas and a coastline of 9,650 km, Brazil’s wind energy market is difficult to ignore.

Turbine Failure: Fine-tuning turbine gearbox performance

(Click here to read the story at WindEnergyUpdate.com)

With many turbines now coming out of their warranty phase, the industry is holding its breath to see whether research and design breakthroughs have resolved gearbox failure issues that have dogged the turbine industry to date.

By Bob Moser, US Correspondent
April 15, 2010

Innovation has radically changed wind energy. Turbines are subject to Galileo’s square cube law, and as they get larger and heavier they should face the common economic struggle of costs growing faster than performance.

But that hasn’t been the case in wind turbines. As turbines scale up, designers have become smarter, introducing changes like more aggressive control of loads, adding strategic flexibility in the system, and changing the solidity of rotors to lower weight.

As to what’s behind gearbox failure, the answer is not straightforward. “There’s no one thing causing all the problems,” said Sandy Butterfield, a 34-year veteran of the wind power industry, former chief engineer of the NREL’s Wind Program and lead of the Gearbox ReliabilityCooperative, and current CEO of Boulder Wind Power.