Entdecken Sie die schmutzigen großen Geheimnisse der Windkraft!
"Aber ein Faktor gegen das Seltene Erde Material, der stark umweltbelastende Neodym Abbau, trübt das "Grüne Energie" Image der Windkraft"
Direkt-Antrieb wird die Technologie des Tages für große Offshore-Windenergieanlagen. Aber ist es klug, auf ungeprüftes Design, das auf hohe Schadstoffe (Anm. der Red.: beim Neodym-Abbau) und knappe Materialien setzt, zu vertrauen?
fragt Jason Geruhe in Barcelona
Lesen Sie die Argumente der WK-Industrie und suchen Sie nach dem, womit Sie von Medien, Politikern, EE-Ideologen und den Windkraftprofiteuren, wie Betreiber, Planer und Landverpächter, pausenlos geködert und zugesülzt werden:
DER ANGEBLICH SO SAUBEREN, GRÜNEN ENERGIE VON WINDKRAFTWERKEN ...
JR
Industry Insight
Direct drive turbines: Lean, mean, but not so green
17 June 2011
Direct drive is becoming the technology du jour for large offshore wind turbines. But is it wise to trust an unproven design that relies on highly polluting, scarce materials?
By Jason Deign in Barcelona
Siemens’ SWT-6.0-120 6 MW offshore turbine will be a direct-drive machine. GE’s 4.1-113 4 MW offshore turbine will be a direct-drive machine. Alstom’s forthcoming 6MW offshore turbine will be a direct-drive machine. Vestas’ V164 7.0 MW offshore turbine will be… oh, wait a second.
The news earlier this year that Vestas would not be using direct drive for its new flagship offshore machine caught many in the industry off guard.
“The majority of new manufacturers are opting for direct drive,” says Eduard Sala de Vedruna, research director of Europe Wind Energy Advisory at IHS Emerging Energy Research. “The announcement by Vestas was unexpected. The fact it chose a hybrid was a surprise.”
Is it a wise move, though? There is a good reason why offshore turbine manufacturers are planning or building direct-drive machines. Because the rotor is linked directly to the turbine blades with no need for a gearbox in between, there are far fewer moving parts.
According to Birger Madsen, head of Navigant Consulting’s BTM Consult division: “Siemens say they have reduced the number of parts in the nacelle to half of what it was. Fewer parts, means fewer problems.”
In an offshore environment, where the simplest of maintenance tasks can cost tens of thousands of dollars, this potential improvement in reliability is a big selling point for direct drive.
(...)
