Level of Quality In Wind Power Industry Questioned

An article provided to Business Week from Spiegel Online is quite damning on the wind power industry.

The main focus of The Dangers of Wind Power is the dangers currently associated with wind turbines as numerous incidents in Germany have caused concern and forced some turbines to be shut down. Evaluations have discovered that in some cases "manufacturing defects and irregularities" are to blame.

The fact that wind turbines are proving to lack durability and are somewhat unreliable is concern enough, but the story touches on a more disturbing point. In the current climate, this situation may not be easily resolved. Like yesterday's post, which explained that innovations in the wind power industry may take some time, it may also take some time for quality concerns in the industry to be worked out. The products are not living up to the claims of the manufacturers and it may actually be due to the apparent "success" of the industry. The article explains it this way.

But it is precisely the industry's prodigious success that is leading to its technological shortcomings. "Many companies have sold an endless number of units," complains engineer Manfred Perkun, until recently a claims adjuster for R+V Insurance. "It hardly leaves any time for testing prototypes."

Wind power expert Martin Stöckl knows the problems all too well. The Bavarian travels some 80,000 kilometers (49,710 miles) across Germany every year, but he is only rarely able to help the wind farmers. It is not just the rotors that, due to enormous worldwide demand, take forever to deliver, but simple replacement parts are likewise nowhere to be found. "You often have to wait 18 months for a new rotor mount, which means the turbine stands still for that long," says Stöckl.

"Sales Top, Service Flop" is the headline on a recent cover story which appeared in the industry journal Erneuerbare Energien.

If innovation and quality aren't expected to happen anytime soon, is this an industry that will survive in the long run?

Interested in residential wind power? Considered building your own turbine?
You can get started with today with Power4Home.

Innovation In Wind Power Takes Time

The story A whale of a tale in the Toronto Star is dated by a couple of months, but it makes a good point that innovation in the wind power industry takes time.

The innovation in this case is a new type of wind turbine blade that is patterned after the flipper of a humpback whale. The designer of this product, Toronto-based Stephen Dewar of startup WhalePower Corp, claims this design will allow the turbine to create wind energy at much lower speeds.

From the article:

It means turbines manufactured with WhalePower blades would be capable of capturing energy where the wind is less strong, as conventional turbines tend to stall when wind speeds fall too low. Not only would this improve the business case for individual wind farms, it broadens the natural geography suitable for large-scale wind generation.

Although Dewar's invention seems to have potential, like many other innovations in this area, it may never see the light of day. There is so much demand for current products, there may not be anyone willing to take a chance on a new approach.

A source in the article used this analogy:

"It's like trying to break into the semiconductor business," says Kerry Adler, chief executive of Toronto-based wind developer SkyPower Corp.

"You're going to be hard-pressed to convince Dell Computer to put a new processing chip on their motherboards, particularly if it's not proven. In the wind industry, you'll have to have a thousand turbines in the ground before anybody gives (a technology) a second look."

And how do a thousand turbines get on ground when nobody gives a technology a second look?

Interested in residential wind power? Considered building your own turbine?
You can get started with today with Power4Home.