The world’s largest wind turbine is now the Enercon E-126. This turbine has a rotor diameter of 126 meters (413 feet). The E-126 is a more sophisticated version of the E-112, formerly the world’s largest wind turbine and rated at 6 megawatts. This new turbine is officially rated at 6 megawatts too, but will most likely produce 7+ megawatts (or 20 million kilowatt hours per year). That’s enough to power about 5,000 households of four in Europe. A quick US calculation would be 938 kwh per home per month, 12 months, that’s 11,256 kwh per year per house. That’s 1776 American homes on one wind turbine.

The turbine being installed in Emden, Germany by Enercon. They will be testing several types of storage systems in combination with the multi-megawatt wind turbines.

These turbines are equipped with a number of new features: an optimized blade design with a spoiler extending down to the hub, and a pre-cast concrete base. Due to the elevated hub height and the new blade profile, the performance of the E-126 is expected to by far surpass that of the E-112.

WiredForStereo of The Way explains the operation of these new turbines:

[The E-126]… has no gearbox attaching the turbine blades to the generator, in fact, the generator is housed just at the widest part of the nose cone, it takes up the entire width of the nacelle to generate power more efficiently, and provide longer service life with less wear.

Also like small turbines, these have inverters instead of synchronous generators, that is to say, a separate controller that converts the wild AC generated into something the grid can use. This means the rotor can run at more optimum and varied speeds.

Again like small turbines, this one does not shut right off at a predetermined speed due to gusts or just very high wind speeds. It simply throttles down by turning the blades slightly away from the wind so as to continue to generate power though at a lower production rate. Then the instant the wind is more favorable, it starts back up again. Many smaller wind turbines do something similar except have no blade pitch control, they use a technique called something like “side furling” where the whole machine, excepting the tail, turns “sideways” to catch less wind but continue operating.

Money, why else? Big things are cheaper per unit production. If you have 3 2 MW generators, you have to have three (at least) cranes to put them up, build three foundations, have to maintain three machines, and have three times the parts to fail. If you have one, it is larger and more expensive in itself to move, but not as expensive as having to move three smaller ones.

I don’t understand how people can be so concerned about birds becoming mush with modern wind turbines, especially ones this big. It only turns at 12 rpms. That means it takes five seconds to complete one revolution. That is slow but this is much bigger and easy to see compared to the whirring blades of old. The Altamont Pass turbines gave wind turbines such a bad name because they were built in the middle of the natural habitat of rare birds, the turbines were the small fast spinning type, and they were built using lattice towers, the kind birds love to nest in. These are slowly being replaced and all of the new ones are of the slower rotating kind. In the end, it comes down to this. Stationary buildings and moving cars kill literally millions of times more birds than wind turbines. And things like the Exxon Valdez spill kill millions of everything. So let’s go with the best option.

The world’s largest wind turbine is now the Enercon E-126. This turbine has a rotor diameter of 126 meters (413 feet). The E-126 is a more sophisticated version of the E-112, formerly the world’s largest wind turbine and rated at 6 megawatts. This new turbine is officially rated at 6 megawatts too, but will most likely produce 7+ megawatts (or 20 million kilowatt hours per year). That’s enough to power about 5,000 households of four in Europe. A quick US calculation would be 938 kwh per home per month, 12 months, that’s 11,256 kwh per year per house. That’s 1776 American homes on one wind turbine.

The turbine being installed in Emden, Germany by Enercon. They will be testing several types of storage systems in combination with the multi-megawatt wind turbines.

These turbines are equipped with a number of new features: an optimized blade design with a spoiler extending down to the hub, and a pre-cast concrete base. Due to the elevated hub height and the new blade profile, the performance of the E-126 is expected to by far surpass that of the E-112.

WiredForStereo of The Way explains the operation of these new turbines:

[The E-126]… has no gearbox attaching the turbine blades to the generator, in fact, the generator is housed just at the widest part of the nose cone, it takes up the entire width of the nacelle to generate power more efficiently, and provide longer service life with less wear.

Also like small turbines, these have inverters instead of synchronous generators, that is to say, a separate controller that converts the wild AC generated into something the grid can use. This means the rotor can run at more optimum and varied speeds.

Again like small turbines, this one does not shut right off at a predetermined speed due to gusts or just very high wind speeds. It simply throttles down by turning the blades slightly away from the wind so as to continue to generate power though at a lower production rate. Then the instant the wind is more favorable, it starts back up again. Many smaller wind turbines do something similar except have no blade pitch control, they use a technique called something like “side furling” where the whole machine, excepting the tail, turns “sideways” to catch less wind but continue operating.

Money, why else? Big things are cheaper per unit production. If you have 3 2 MW generators, you have to have three (at least) cranes to put them up, build three foundations, have to maintain three machines, and have three times the parts to fail. If you have one, it is larger and more expensive in itself to move, but not as expensive as having to move three smaller ones.

I don’t understand how people can be so concerned about birds becoming mush with modern wind turbines, especially ones this big. It only turns at 12 rpms. That means it takes five seconds to complete one revolution. That is slow but this is much bigger and easy to see compared to the whirring blades of old. The Altamont Pass turbines gave wind turbines such a bad name because they were built in the middle of the natural habitat of rare birds, the turbines were the small fast spinning type, and they were built using lattice towers, the kind birds love to nest in. These are slowly being replaced and all of the new ones are of the slower rotating kind. In the end, it comes down to this. Stationary buildings and moving cars kill literally millions of times more birds than wind turbines. And things like the Exxon Valdez spill kill millions of everything. So let’s go with the best option.

The federal stimulus bill, which has provided about $950 million in cash grants in lieu of tax credits to the wind sector since August, helped bring some of the projects back, Alonso says, "But not all."

The association, in its third-quarter market report, says that the wind industry installed 1,649 megawatts of new power capacity in the third quarter — enough to serve the equivalent of more than 480,000 average households.

Through the first nine months of the year, 5,800 megawatts of new wind capacity have been added, it says. For all of last year, 8,500 megawatts were added.

Despite the stimulus money, it's doubtful that the U.S. will hit or surpass 2008 levels this year, says Elizabeth Salerno, the association's director of industry data and analysis. Before the financial crisis hit, 2009 was expected to be a growth year, she says.

A slowdown in announcements of new facilities to manufacture the equipment to generate wind power has also occurred. At this time last year, the U.S. had 36 newly finished or announced facilities. So far this year, there have been 24, Salerno says.

Lack of financing continues to hamper wind-generation projects, Alonso says, but he sees some improvement. The government's stimulus plan has helped raise lender confidence, he says.

In September, the federal government announced a $47.7 million grant for Horizon. It had one of 15 U.S. wind projects to get stimulus funds.

That money enabled Horizon to start construction in September on the second phase of a wind farm in Indiana. That project wasn't scheduled to begin until next year — and may not have begun then — had financing remained tight, Alonso says.

He says it'll be summer before a full rebound, assuming the economy continues to recover.

One big question is whether U.S. lawmakers will pass a national standard calling for increased use of renewable energy, such as wind and solar. If so, Salerno says, that would send a signal to the market that demand for such power would increase, spurring investment.

Two dozen states have set their own standards to increase use of renewable energy. As of the end of last year, wind accounted for 1.25% of U.S. electricity generation, the association says.

The U.S. has enough wind power to fuel the equivalent of nearly 9 million homes, up almost 23% from the start of the year, the American Wind Energy Association reported Tuesday.
But the industry will fall short of earlier growth projections for the year, the association says, largely because of last year's financial meltdown. That resulted in "many companies putting projects on hold," says Gabriel Alonso, CEO of Horizon Wind Energy in Houston.

The federal stimulus bill, which has provided about $950 million in cash grants in lieu of tax credits to the wind sector since August, helped bring some of the projects back, Alonso says, "But not all."

The association, in its third-quarter market report, says that the wind industry installed 1,649 megawatts of new power capacity in the third quarter — enough to serve the equivalent of more than 480,000 average households.

Through the first nine months of the year, 5,800 megawatts of new wind capacity have been added, it says. For all of last year, 8,500 megawatts were added.

Despite the stimulus money, it's doubtful that the U.S. will hit or surpass 2008 levels this year, says Elizabeth Salerno, the association's director of industry data and analysis. Before the financial crisis hit, 2009 was expected to be a growth year, she says.

A slowdown in announcements of new facilities to manufacture the equipment to generate wind power has also occurred. At this time last year, the U.S. had 36 newly finished or announced facilities. So far this year, there have been 24, Salerno says.

Lack of financing continues to hamper wind-generation projects, Alonso says, but he sees some improvement. The government's stimulus plan has helped raise lender confidence, he says.

In September, the federal government announced a $47.7 million grant for Horizon. It had one of 15 U.S. wind projects to get stimulus funds.

That money enabled Horizon to start construction in September on the second phase of a wind farm in Indiana. That project wasn't scheduled to begin until next year — and may not have begun then — had financing remained tight, Alonso says.

He says it'll be summer before a full rebound, assuming the economy continues to recover.

One big question is whether U.S. lawmakers will pass a national standard calling for increased use of renewable energy, such as wind and solar. If so, Salerno says, that would send a signal to the market that demand for such power would increase, spurring investment.

Two dozen states have set their own standards to increase use of renewable energy. As of the end of last year, wind accounted for 1.25% of U.S. electricity generation, the association says.