Vestas, a company specializing in wind power systems, will supply its 300 kW V27 research wind turbine to the Sandia National Laboratories. The Sandia National Laboratories and Texas Tech University in Lubbock are building a Scaled Wind Farm Technology facility (SWIFT).
SWIFT's initial three turbines are sited to allow for collaborative and individual research. (Illustration by Chris Brigman)
The facility will have two Sandia V27 research turbines and one Vestas V27 research turbine. These V27 turbines are comparatively smaller than industrial turbines.
The site plan for the new turbines was developed by Vestas ad the Labs to observe the
turbine-to-turbine communications. Even though each turbine can communicate individually, both Vestas and Sandia will perform combined research on these three turbines.
The research will be conducted at Lubbock in Texas. The Project Manager of Sandia’s Wind Energy Technologies group, Jon White stated that the site is perfect for research since it has better wind resource and less turbulence. He added that the wind, which mainly comes from the south, makes the research easier.
The SWIFT concept was developed to reduce the wind energy cost by enhancing the outcome from a wind power plant instead of relying on a single turbine.
Research will also be carried out for developing novel rotor technologies. In addition, embedded sensor systems will be used to examine the structural condition and aero-acoustics of the turbines. Scientists will also focus on Sandia’s structural mechanical adaptive rotor technology (SMART) program.
At the initial phase, three turbines have been included at the site. However, the number may increase to nine or more. The research group expects the facility to begin operations from October 2012, added White.