U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program
Wind Energy Supporting Engineering and Analysis
The Supporting Engineering and Analysis activity provides a number of necessary functions to support industry and the program and to further wind energy technology deployment and application.
Goal
The efforts under this activity are expected to help reach all four of the program's goals.
The strategy for this effort is to undertake, in consultation with industry, critical cross-cutting activities that span the needs of the wind power stakeholder community, but are unlikely to be supported by individual companies.
The Wind Program is pursuing three specific research activities under the Supporting Engineering and Analysis activity:
Certification and design standards assure that a turbine design is sound, safe, and has been executed with good engineering practice. Standards need to continuously be updated to reflect the best knowledge on engineering practices and experience obtained over recent years. Having internationally recognized standards creates a level playing field in the market place and assures that every turbine meets a minimum level of safety. Over the past few years, NREL has set up a certification system in the United States in partnership with Underwriters Laboratories (UL). Standards used under the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) are used as the basis for this certification program.
New standards are under development, which will update or create technical requirements and design techniques. NREL and SNL personnel will participate in IEC, IEEE, and AWEA standards activities to provide technical support and ensure that standards provide adequate consumer and safety protection while avoiding creation of market and economic barriers. NREL will create guidelines on how to implement the standards for use by industry. NREL will continue to train UL to help them gain the necessary skills to sustain all the services needed for a comprehensive certification program.
DOE and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) initiated the Utility Wind Turbine Verification Program (TVP) in 1992 to evaluate early commercial wind turbines and to provide the information necessary for transition from wind technology development programs to commercial purchases. The program is funded by contributions from DOE, host utilities, and EPRI. EPRI manages the program on behalf of the funding organizations, issues competitive RFPs, contracts with host utilities, and receives technical and programmatic support from NREL.
The program's field verification activities to date have focused on utility-scale (over 250 kilowatts) wind turbines. In the future, this effort will be expanded to assist the segment of the U.S. wind industry producing smaller wind turbines (rated at 100 kilowatts and less). These experiences will help U.S. firms validate and/or improve performance and reliability of their wind turbines, while also expanding regional experience with wind energy technologies.
An important part of the program mission is the communication of research results and program activities to the many different stakeholder audiences. This research activity supports and facilitates this communication in an effort to promote the advancement of wind energy technologies.
The NWTC also directs the performance of cost- and performance-based technology assessments, and market assessments including tracking installed U.S. wind capacity and industry/utility plans for expansion. This effort informs the program of developments that could influence industry and program needs and priorities. This area also includes support of key program efforts with the International Energy Agency (IEA).
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