Advanced Wind Turbine Near-Term Product Development: Final Technical Report

In 1990 the U.S. Department of Energy initiated the Advanced Wind Turbine (AWT) Program to assist the growth of a viable wind energy industry in the United States. This program, which has been managed through the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, has been divided into three phases: 1) conceptual design studies, 2) near-term product development and 3) next-generationproduct development. The goals of the second phase were to bring into production wind turbines which would meet the cost goal of $0.05 kWh at a site with a mean (Rayleigh) wind speed of 5.8 m/s (13 mph) and a vertical wind shear exponent of 0.14. These machines were to allow a U.S -based industry to compete domestically with other sources of energy and to provide internationally competitiveproducts. In 1992, R. Lynette & Associates (RLA) was awarded a contract under the second phase of the AWT program. This report presents the technical results of that contract. It also includes a summary of RLA's project funded under Phase 1 of the D O E program. It describes the rationale behind the selection of the 'baseline' wind turbine, the modifications made to that design, the fabricationand testing of two prototypes, and the plans for machine production.