Building a better turbine

Good to see R&D being done on improving wind energy.

Universities and businesses across Texas are expecting to spend millions in the next few years honing the blades, gearboxes and generators that make up turbines designed to harness power from the wind.

The work, including studies slated for a new University of Houston research park, as well as at a 22-acre testing operation planned near Corpus Christi, has a common goal: developing a new generation of efficient and reliable turbines.

The challenge, said Don Birx, the vice chancellor of research at the University of Houston, is building turbines out of materials strong enough to withstand tremendous pressure in heavy winds without adding more weight and stress to spinning blades that can now stretch beyond 100 yards.

Everything is “focused on the next generation of blades and designs,” and building them out of “the lightest but strongest materials possible,” Birx said.

Birx expects that when the University of Houston opens its new research facility next year, at least 10 researchers will be testing prototypes, honing new turbine designs and trying to make blades more reliable.

There’s a bunch of grant money being distributed for this kind of work, and a bill to get the Department of Energy more involved in wind power research as well. It’s good to see.

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