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Sandia innovation eliminates reliance on rare-earth magnets for large-scale wind turbines

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Motivated by the need to eliminate expensive rare-earth magnets in utility-scale direct-drive wind turbines, Sandia National Laboratories researchers have developed a fundamentally new type of rotary electrical contact. Most of the current utility-scale wind turbines are dependent on rare-earth magnets, Koplow said. 1 milliohm).

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Cascadia Capital forecasts flurry of MA and commercialization in clean tech in 2011; US Congress to discard Cap and Trade

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energy sector will spur a flurry of M&A and investment activity in 2011 as renewable energy. Sustainable Industries Predictions for 2011 include: Cap and Trade Discarded by Congress in National Energy Policy. energy will be ready for commercialization in 2011, with companies like Plasco Energy. technologies mature.

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Study suggests arrays of closely-spaced counter-rotating vertical-axis wind turbines could enhance power density of wind farms by up to an order of magnitude

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Dabiri suggests using optimized arrays of smaller vertical-axis wind turbines to increase the power density and reduce the cost, and visual, acoustic, radar and environmental impacts, of wind farms using giant horizontal-axis turbines. constraint limits the amount of power that can be extracted from a given wind farm footprint.

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Bloomberg NEF forecasts falling battery prices enabling surge in wind and solar to 50% of global generation by 2050

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The arrival of cheap battery storage will mean that it becomes increasingly possible to finesse the delivery of electricity from wind and solar, so that these technologies can help meet demand even when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining. trillion of that going to wind and solar and a further $1.5

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Siemens launches 6MW direct-drive wind turbine

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Siemens Energy launched its new 6-megawatt (MW) direct-drive wind turbine at the European Offshore Wind Energy Conference in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. wind turbine. The new turbine features the Siemens direct drive design with 50% fewer parts than comparable geared wind turbines. The new SWT-6.0 Click to enlarge.

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Scientists find night-warming effect over large wind farms in Texas

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Large wind farms in certain areas in the United States appear to affect local land surface temperatures, according to a paper published in the journal Nature Climate Change. Night-time land surface temperature differences near wind farms between 2010 and 2013. Credit: Liming Zhou et al., Nature Climate Change. Click to enlarge.

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GE using Large Eddy Simulation on Sandia’s Red Mesa to lay groundwork for quieter wind turbine blades with better power yield

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Transition of flow to turbulence on a wind-turbine airfoil; isosurfaces of vorticity from a Large Eddy Simulation (LES). In a 2011 survey of techniques to reduce wind turbine blade noise, Sandia researcher Matthew Barone noted that: There are two primary classes of noise sources on a wind turbine. Click to enlarge.

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