The problem because wind turbines are expected to operate for 20 years. Early equipment fatigue, especially in turbine gearboxes, threatens to reduce performance and drive up wind power costs just as the industry is poised to capture a greater share of the US generating capacity.
Improving their reliability is key to generating a consistently competitive power source and a healthy return on investment. Both are needed if wind power is to meet 20 percent of the nation’s electricity needs by 2030, a scenario a U.S. Department of Energy report issued in 2008 says is possible.
The end users and the owner-operators say we’re only getting five years, or in some cases, three years out of these gearboxes, said NREL principal engineer Sandy Butterfield, who is leading the cooperative study.
This project is designed to search for any residual gaps in the design process and confirm a robust design practice used in current production turbines, Butterfield said. We can’t wait five more years to discover any residual gaps.
