New Energy Focus - 13 hours ago
... to work with Texas-based electric motor specialists TECO-Westinghouse Motor Company to develop superconductor technology for 10MW-class wind generators. ...
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Work is underway in the US on the next generation of wind power that could see 10MW turbines developed - with the UK seen as a key market.
American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC) announced this week that it has started a 12-month project, working with the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, looking at the potential economics of the massive turbines.
The work is being carried out alongside an existing, separate project drawing up potential designs for a 10MW direct drive wind turbine.
AMSC said its superconductor technology could break through the wind power capacity barrier for conventional wind turbines. It said its new 10MW wind turbine will be a fraction of the size of regular direct drive turbines of that power rating, and less than half the weight.
And, with the increased size the project should bring wind developers economies of scale, the company believes.
Speaking to New Energy Focus yesterday, AMSC's director of investor relations Jason Fredette said his company was seeing the UK as a major target for its 10MW turbine.
"The UK is talking about tens of gigawatts of new capacity, up to 33GW - you can either put up 7,000 to 8,000 smaller wind turbines or you could put up around 3,000 to 4,000 turbines in the 10MW class," he said.
Mr Fredette said: "Our objective is to have a wind turbine ready for when offshore wind really takes off - it's predicted to be the middle of the next decade, around 2014-2015. That gives us time to commercialise this system."
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