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Back in the early days of the modern wind industry, farm equipment manufacturers in Denmark played a key role in developing the sturdy large-scale machines installed in the 1980s. Maybe that's why wind seemed like such a good fit for a company like John Deere, the world's largest farm machinery manufacturer.

Recent data and analyses have made it clear that the emissions savings from adding wind energy to the grid are even larger than had been commonly thought. In addition to each kilowatt-hour (kWh) of wind energy directly offsetting a kWh that would have been produced by a fossil-fired power plant, new analyses show that wind plants further reduce emissions by forcing the most polluting and inflexible power plants offline and causing them to be replaced by more efficient and flexible types of generation.

I'm not a big fan of Train the Trainer methodologies to scale teacher training. I agree with Juliano Bittencourt, Learning Development Coordinator for OLPC Rwanda when he says: Even when we talk about developed countries, this model of training a small group of people that in their turn train another group of people and so on, has failed. Cascading trainings has proven to decrease quality along the chain. The first and second levels might be good, but by the seventh iteration most of the principles have got lost remaining only the skeleton of the original ideas. Yet that poses a very serious problem for Juliano and the whole OLPC Rwanda team, as he discusses in The Challenges of OLPC Scale Implementation in Rwanda: Wayan Vota http://www.wayan.com

The developers of the embattled Cape Wind project got another piece of good news today, moving the nation's first federally-approved offshore wind farm closer to construction.

Coming on the heels of yesterday's announcement that California is moving closer to setting grid energy storage mandates for utilities in the state, today Pike Research released a new report that says the grid energy storage market could reach as much as $35 billion by 2020.

Conservatives, let's talk about energy. And why so many conservatives are so wrong -- so liberal, even -- on wind and solar energy.

As policymakers consider energy and environmental goals, renewable portfolio standards (RPS) are one popular tool to encourage the development of renewable power resources. These regulations, also called renewable electricity standards, typically require utilities to source a specified percentage of their power from qualified renewable sources. States adopt RPS programs to incentivize the development of new capacity, reduce their carbon footprints and mitigate volatility in fossil fuel prices. While such regulations do have cost impacts to ratepayers, proponents argue that their benefits exceed their costs.

As policymakers consider energy and environmental goals, renewable portfolio standards (RPS) are one popular tool to encourage the development of renewable power resources. These regulations, also called renewable electricity standards, typically require utilities to source a specified percentage of their power from qualified renewable sources. States adopt RPS programs to incentivize the development of new capacity, reduce their carbon footprints and mitigate volatility in fossil fuel prices. While such regulations do have cost impacts to ratepayers, proponents argue that their benefits exceed their costs.

The World Bank talk about OLPC in South America will start at 12:30PM EST / 4:30PM GMT / 6:30PM CEST and as previously announced we'll be streaming it live right here:

Please note that we'll also be monitoring Twitter for the #olpcSAbriefing hashtag so if you have any questions or comments during the talk then please make sure to include that hashtag.

Update: The slides I'll be showing are now available here.

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A technician mounts a cutter that will machine the turbine hub in the background.

One trend in manufacturing is to procure more than an unfinished component from a supplier. The idea of one-stop shopping has reached manufacturing firms for a good reason: OEMs want shorter supply chains. The fewer shops a part must visit on its way to a finished machine, the more likely it will arrive in better working order, and it will cost less. Take Spanish manufacturing firm Sakana, for example. Its OEM clients asked it to add more value to their components by taking responsibility for more of the manufacturing process.

The company, a gray and ductile-iron-casting firm in north Spain, received this opportunity from its wind-turbine customers. After it casts components, most need machining and painting. OEMs asked the company to add the steps to its scope of supply …if they wanted to continue supplying these parts and remain competitive. The foundry, however, had no experience in either task.

Sakana executives briefly considered the alternatives of subcontracting out to other companies. But here was a chance to add machining and painting to their capabilities portfolio. It would require an investment upwards of $26 million (20 M€), but could place them in position to receive for more of this kind of work. The payoff would be to gain flexibility in the production required for clients, adapt quickly to changing design requirements, and cost efficiencies from performing several processes at one industrial site.

A Soraluce boring mill (left) machines a frame in the background. A large casting in the foreground awaits machining

Sakana decided to go ahead with the plan. A new foundry would have a capacity of 16,000 ton/yr dedicated to the large wind engineering components, leaving the remaining capacity, another 16,000 ton/yr, for smaller parts.

To integrate machining process, Sakana managers went looking for a company that could supply most everything it needed – one that could combine boring mills, and clamping fixtures, machining ops, and even responsibility for the execution of the first components to train crews and assure the first contract as well as the launch into production.

The company found what they were looking for in Soraluce, a manufacturer of boring mills. The company also manufactures machines such as heavy-duty mills, horizontal and vertical turning centers, and grinding machines.

Soraluce’s expertise in this turn-key project helped it define the requirements for the essential equipment, then it recommended accessories useful for production, and it even devised a layout for the plant with a description of the general equipment that would be implemented later.

Lakber General Manager Alejandro Martinez

Finally in 2008, the new facilities opened its doors under the name Lakber (as a subsidiary of Sakana) showing a state-of-the-art plant focused on wind-turbine components and a capability for mass production as well as prototype machining.

New tools make daily tasks faster

It is not easy to take components that weigh eight to 24 tons and machine off about two tons from each, all the while taking care of the cost per component. One scrapped part could mean losing the profit from months of work.

Lakber is, of course, equipped for hub and frame manufacturing. The work uses the most reliable machinery for stringent requirements. The division also has available technology to ease daily tasks and help employees focus on value-added activities. The company provides state of the art capabilities thanks to technologies including an:

• Intelligent cutting-tool magazine with a tool pre-setter connected to machines
• In-house developed ERP to control production costs, schedules, and to ease planning.
• NC software to get designs into production. The software connects to the general-tool magazine and machine-specific tool magazines. This cuts time often wasted looking for “lost” tools in the workshop.
• Measuring equipment connected to a database that generates custom check-list sheets for every component.

Relationships start with manufacturing

The relationship between the company and its customers starts with manufacturing. A test for some components is to machine them to determine whether the initial process is reliable or not. This decides the future of the relation.

Machined features are checked with a laser calibration tool.

Lakber General Manager Alejandro Martinez says it got a contract for 10 prototypes in their first year. The first challenge for the hub-and-frame manufacturer was to find a good machining process that can assure little compromise between the needed finish tolerances and the best cycle time.

“In two years, we turned an idea into a reliable hub and frame manufacturer,” he says. “The technical responsibility for machining in this first project fell on Soraluce, a technically savvy company that provided us with the required advanced-machining equipment and their know-how in turn key projects for wind-turbine components,” adds Martinez. “They provided us with boring mills, the fixturing, the machining process, the cutting tools, NC machining programs, and useful knowledge.”

“From the beginning of the project we had a collaborative engineering relationship with Soraluce to update our knowledge, from almost zero, to a leading position in hub and frame machining,” adds Martinez.

A machinist monitors the cutting of a hub.

For instance, everything starts with the speculations for the finished component: required final tolerances, reference points, and best clamping areas. All this calls for an optimized machining strategy with the minimum set-ups, because these larger components are not easy to handle. “This is something that you can only achieve when you have a trained and motivated team working for the best technical solution in terms of process and cycle time. You oblige yourself continuously improving the process by means of regular benchmarks on tooling improvements and accessories for the machines. And you have open discussions about the machining matters with your customers to find solutions that fit better with their philosophy and technical principles.”

The World Bank talk about OLPC in South America will start at 12:30PM EST / 4:30PM GMT / 6:30PM CEST and as previously announced we'll be streaming it live right here: Please note that we'll also be monitoring Twitter for the #olpcSAbriefing hashtag so if you have any questions or comments during the talk then please make sure to include that hashtag. Update: The slides I'll be showing are now available here. Christoph Derndorfer http://christoph-d.blogspot.com/

A new kind of turbine design was on display at Yokohama’s Renewable Energy International Exhibition 2010. The Wind Lens, an idea developed by Professor Yuji Ohya at Kyushu University would have a 112-m dia. and focus the wind into the rotor by means of a hoop. Capturing higher speed wind would mean generating more power.

A CG image shows how future wind-turbine farms may look.

According to Ohya, his Wind Lens can double, even triple, the power output of a conventional wind turbine, as well as reduce the noise pollution and increase safety of the installation. Wind turbines have been accused of ruining landscapes and creating a lot of noise. In some cases, high wind speeds have torn down turbines and damaged surrounding agriculture. With a floating hexagon base, the Wind Lens might eliminate these risks.

Japan started to center its attention on wind power after tinkering with geothermal power from its volcanoes and hot springs for a number of years. Wind makes up 2% of the world’s energy, somewhere near 159.2 GW. Of course, every technology using natural resources has to adapt to various site conditions. This makes Ohya hesitant to predict wide success or adoption of the Wind Lens. “Despite its merits, even if this technology does enter the Japanese market, it may not be easily adopted by other countries.”

Ohya envisions a large 6-blade rotor surrounded by a wind-focusing shroud or lens.

Still, it could be successful in windy countries like Denmark, Austria, Germany, and Norway, or states like Texas.

More Tech Data

In a technical report NREL issued, “Renewable Energy Prices in State-Level Feed-in Tariffs: Federal Law Constraints and Possible Solutions,” the organization discusses how state legislatures and their utility commissions seeking to attract renewable energy projects are considering arrangements called “feed-in tariffs.” These would obligate retail utilities to purchase electricity from renewable producers under standard arrangements that specify prices, terms, and conditions. This standardization simplifies purchasing, provides revenue certainty to generators, and is said to reduce the cost of financing generating projects.

However, two statutes — the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) and the Federal Power Act of 1935 (FPA) — limit the discretion of state-level tariff designers. So the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) was asked to explore how states can lawfully implement feed-in tariffs.

There is no official definition of “feed-in tariff, “ but a technical report issued by NREL assumes the tariff is the result of a legal mandate. A state wishing to create that mandate has two options: rely on the purchase obligations under PURPA, shaping the state-level requirements to satisfy PURPA’s constraints (sellers under this approach don’t need to comply with the FPA). Or, the state can rely on a state statute independent of PURPA (where sellers must comply with the FPA unless the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has exempted them).

For states relying on the PURPA mandate, certain feed-in tariffs are possible without action by FERC or Congress. The problem is that utilities can now seek exemption from the PURPA purchase requirement. Under PURPA amendments enacted in 2005, FERC has exempted some utilities from their PURPA obligation to buy power from qualifying facilities with capacities greater than 20 MW. If states with jurisdiction over these utilities wish to establish feed-in tariffs, they will have to create a mandate under state law and the sellers will need to comply with the FPA.

Can a state order its utilities to file “feed-in-tariffs”? Two paths to non-preemption.

Given FPA requirements, a state-level feed-in tariff outside of PURPA isn’t legally possible in the United States today. But, a clear path to state-level feed-in tariffs, outside of PURPA, would open for small qualifying facilities if FERC clarified or modified its precedents.

The report concludes there are paths to non-preempted, state-level feed-in-tariffs under current federal law. These paths would either be available now with no further action available by FERC, would become available if the FERC clarified or modified its precedents, or would become available if the FERC issued new rules, declaratory orders, or both to provide guidance that rendered state-set tariff prices lawful under the FPA.

Additional paths are also possible if Congress amends PURPA or the FPA to remove or reduce existing statutory constraints. Detailed discussions involving states, FERC, renewable producers, utility buyers, and possibly congress will be necessary to create a legal context in which states can enact feed-in-tariffs.

Congress could modify PURPA and the FPA to allow states to establish feed-in tariffs unconstrained by current federal law. The intent behind such an amendment would be to create exceptions from PURPA, the FPA, or both, for renewable sellers in states that make known tariffs having certain characteristics. The result would be to entrust in the sellers an automatic right to sell under state programs.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

www.nrel.gov

SmartSignal, a condition monitoring firm, will host its Summit 2010 on Sept 7 thru 9 at the Fairmont Hotel, Chicago. Find more conference details, download a pdf agenda, and register at: www.smartsignal.com/summit.aspx
At Summit 2008, over 200 SmartSignal customers gathered to discuss best practices, hear about product developments, listen to industry gurus, and network with peers. The summit organizers are glad to be back in 2010 with an even better Summit. The company says it has a lot to talk about, with multiple new product and service offerings and over 30 new customers from around the world since 2008—new users who can bring fresh perspectives on how they optimize operations.
To make Summit 2010 useful and engaging, the organizers have:

1. Content provided almost entirely by peers talking straight talk to peers about real-world stories: how they implement Predictive Analytics and Diagnostics solutions into businesses. What works, how to get quick results, and how to overcome challenges.
2. More time to ask questions and interact—with a new program of customer panels followed by Q&A.
3. Access to experts and current users to learn about SmartSignal products and services.
4. An entire track of training sessions, including CEU credit courses on equipment maintenance & reliability and featuring “The Reliability Game.”
5. Vision of a transformational maintenance breakthrough with reports from pioneering customers.

A growing list of engaging customer speakers from companies such as APS, Alyeska, BP Alaska, Caterpillar, Chevron, Consumers Energy, Constellation Energy, Edipower, Entergy, Gas Natural Fenosa, Invenergy, Laborelec, Mirant, New Harquahala, RRI Energy, RWE Npower, Scottish and Southern Energy, SRP, We Energies, and others.

Or, how a small push can generate high torque

A torque multiplier allows generating a higher torque than a person would normally apply. The reaction arm is to the upper left. Norbar says all gears in its design rotate on needle roller bearings about hardened and ground journal pins. As a result, the devices have a torque multiplication accuracy of +/-4%, throughout the operating range.

There is not much room to maneuver in a nacelle 60m up so when bolt tightening is the task at hand, Norbar Torque Tools, Inc., of Willoughby, Ohio says a torque multiplier can be a better and safer alternative to a long wrench. A torque multiplier increases the torque that can be applied by hand. Of course, output power cannot exceed the input power, so the number of output turns will be fewer than the number of input turns. A brief equation shows how the mechanical parameters relate.

Power = torque x rpm

Handtorque multipliers use and epicyclic or planetary gear train with one or more stages. Each stage of gearing increases the torque applied by a factor of 5. Norbar Handtorque multipliers typically come in ratios of 5:1, 25:1, and 125:1.

In the planetary-gear design, a tech applies torque to the input gear or sun gear. The action rotates three or four planetary gears whose teeth are engaged with the sun gear. The outside casing of the multiplier (an annulus or ring gear) also engages the plant gear teeth, and normally rotates in the opposite direction to the sun gear. A reaction arm prevents the casing from rotating, and this causes the planetary gears to orbit around the sun gear. The planetary gears are held in a planetary carrier which also holds the output square drive. Therefore, as the planetary gears orbit around the sun gear, the carrier and square drive turns.

Without the reaction arm to keep the casing stationary, the output square will not apply torque.

Other reasons to use a torque multiplier include:

• It’s safer in the nacelle. Use of long levers can be dangerous. In the confines of a nacelle, long torque arms are impractical. Torque multiplier allows reducing the lever length or operation effort by a factor of 5, 25, or 125.

•Torque Multipliers are especially useful breaking loose stubborn or frozen bolts, and are widely used for a 10% verification of bolted joints.

• Accuracy of the torque value improves when applying torque smoothly and slowly. Torque multipliers do this by removing much of the physical effort from the tightening task.

The sketch shows input and output torques for a 25:1 torque multiplier.

Torque-output calculations are a matter of simple arithmetic with little risk of incorrect bolt loading due to conversion errors. Other manufacturer's multipliers often require graphs or formulae to calculate the input torque to achieve a particular output.

Norbar says its comprehensive multiplier range of Handtorque torque multipliers includes standard products in up to 47,500 Nm (35,000 lbf-ft) devices and specials to 100,000 Nm (73,000 lbf-ft). Accessories include ‘nose extensions' for reaching difficult to access bolts and torque transducers for highly accurate torque monitoring.

Norbar

norbar.com

Goudian United Power Technology Co. assembles nacelle equipment at its Baoding plant. Eaton hydraulic components will perform yaw and shaft braking functions.

Industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation says it will provide key wind-power technologies to Guodian United Power Technology Co. Ltd., a wind turbine manufacturer in China. The agreement will generate about $1.5 million in revenues annually for the U.S. firm.

Eaton’s Hydraulics Group based in Shanghai will supply hydraulic power units equipped with Vickers and Integrated Hydraulics screw-in cartridge valves for yaw and shaft braking functions on Guodian wind turbines produced in Hebei Province. Eaton will also supply Aeroquip MatchMate Plus hose and Winner fittings for turbine brakes.

Eaton says it also offers customers power-unit-design capabilities, local production expertise, and technical and application engineering support.

Eaton Corp.

www.eaton.com/hydraulics