Wind/Energy

Wind/Energy 26 Feb 2013

Salazar: U.S. trying to streamline approvals for East Coast offshore wind

Speaking at the Offshore Wind Power USA Boston conference, outgoing Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar highlights the need to streamline regulations to speed offshore wind development along the U.S. East Coast.

Pressure Vessels 25 Jan 2013

U.S. playing catch-up in offshore wind race

With excellent wind resources off the U.S. East Coast, it's high time wind energy developers start investing in the region. A promising start might be underway off the coast of Maine, where Statoil is working to develop a floating turbine.

Consumer 31 Dec 2012

Bi-angle fabrics find first commercial application

Bicycle manufacturer sees dramatic productivity gains using unbalanced fabrics conceived at Stanford University and manufactured by Chomarat.

Pressure Vessels 31 Dec 2012

Waiting for $5/lb carbon fiber?

HPC editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan suggests we say goodbye to $5/lb carbon fiber and expect that composites will earn their way onto autos by saving drivers money.

Materials Testing 1 Dec 2012

WTTC opens upsized wind blade test facility

The Wind Technology Testing Center (WTTC, Boston, Mass.) opened its $35 million+ wind blade testing facility on May 18, 2011, the only lab in the U.S. that can test blades up to 90m/295-ft long.

Wind/Energy 1 Dec 2012

UMaine’s Offshore Wind lab sports 70m/230-ft testing … and more

The Offshore Wind Laboratory’s new wind turbine blade test lab, part of a 38,700-ft² (3,595m²) expansion of the University of Maine’s (UMaine) AEWC Advanced Structures and Composites Center (Orono, Maine), was first announced in February 2009.

Pressure Vessels 1 Dec 2012

In Europe: Fraunhofer-IWES, NaREC Take Blade testing to 100m/328 ft

Two rotor blade testing facilities in Europe have answered the call for testing capability that will accommodate today’s longer blade designs for offshore wind turbines with newly constructed blade test sites.Fraunhofer-Institut für Windenergie und Energiesystemtechnik (IWES, Bremerhaven, Germany), the first to complete its expanded facility, is now able to test 90m/295-ft blades, up from 70m/230-ft test lengths two years ago.