World Wind Watch | Green Energy News

October 5, 2003 – Vol.8 No.28

WORLD WIND WATCH.

Each incremental step in technological improvement brings wind energy (as well as other renewables) closer to direct competition in cost per kilowatt hour with conventional power generation.

ABB has launched a new generator for wind turbines that is based on its low-speed permanent magnet technology. ABB claims the new technology, where the rotor windings within the dynamo are replaced with magnets, is 98 percent efficient, and has the same generating capacity as a generator of much smaller size. Aside from the efficiency gains to lower the cost per kwh, the smaller size and reduced weight of the generator will make turbine installation easier and less costly.

ABB attributes advances in generator/electric motor technology to the use of neodymium boron iron (NeFeB) magnets that have 10 times the magnetic force of conventional ferrite magnets. Visit ABB at http://www.abb.com/ .

Waters off the coast of New Jersey are now being considered for offshore wind. Atlantic Renewable Energy has received a $300,000 grant from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to study the prospects of offshore wind for the state. New Jersey’s Renewable Energy Task Force has recommended that the state get 20 percent of its energy from renewables by 2020. With New Jersey’s long Atlantic coastline offshore wind would certainly be in that mix. Visit Atlantic Renewable Energy at http://www.atlantic-renewable.com/ .