Reaching for the Sky

This article focuses on works of various engineering units, which are working to design large wind turbines that can extract more power with greater efficiency. One of the biggest recent developments in wind energy is that grid operators have been successful in finding ways to integrate copious quantities of variable, location-constrained energy resources at reasonable costs, without compromising the overall requirements of a safe and reliable electricity supply system. While most of the wind power development in the United States is in onshore wind farms, internationally some big projects are being built offshore. The economics—and politics—of offshore wind allow for extraordinarily large turbines. Researchers are exploring the aerodynamic design of blades, advanced approaches to control the turbulent flow around the blades, and lighter and structurally more resilient materials for blades, gearbox technology, and power transmission systems. The integration of advanced computational approaches with laboratory and field-scale experimentation is helping researchers understand the very complex interaction between turbulence in the atmosphere and the machine.