Comments on: Huge leaps ahead in wind power technology http://www.ewea.org/blog/2011/08/huge-leaps-ahead-in-wind-power-technology/ Breath of fresh air Sat, 15 Jun 2013 10:44:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: slider http://www.ewea.org/blog/2011/08/huge-leaps-ahead-in-wind-power-technology/#comment-11566 slider Sat, 13 Aug 2011 04:20:45 +0000 http://www.ewea.org/blog/?p=1995#comment-11566 The conventional wisdom that offshore direct-drive PM drivetrains are the way forward for utility scale wind turbines is misguided. The rationale for adopting the far-more expensive direct-drive PM configurations with full power conversion, ignores the established historical statistical failure rate data showing that power conversion electronic failures are almost 5 times more common than gearbox failures.

The logical approach, both with regards to LCOE and downtime, would be to improve the gearbox reliability. Or better yet, develop a mechanical variable speed drivetrain and synchronous AC generator, which would eliminate the failure-prone power conversion electronics altogether.

And since onshore turbines are far less expensive to install than offshore turbines, any approach which reduces the onshore costs is a step in the right direction.

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