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Deep-water wind turbine prototype floats A Dutch company was in the midst of installing the world’s first floating wind turbine at the start of this year off the southern coast of Italy in waters 110 meters deep. The Submerged Deepwater Platform (SDP) system by Dutch offshore specialist Blue H Technology is one of several recent offshore wind collaborations between the wind power and offshore industries. Blue H presented SDP at the 2007 European Offshore Wind Conference and Exhibition in Berlin in December.
China’s emerging wind power industry booms The Chinese market for wind power has grown remarkably over the last two years. In fact, its growth has passed all other markets in the world. In 2007, China installed 3,390 MW of wind power, according to Chinese sources. This amount was 154% higher than the new capacity in 2006–which itself showed growth of 167% over 2005. Table 1 shows five years of Chinese market growth.
Two-bladed Swedish wind turbine entering US market Nordic Windpower is bringing a two-bladed turbine to the US market. The Swedish company’s Nordic N1000 turbine is the product of a 30-year, $75 million investment by the Swedish government and the European Union with the purpose of making a low cost, highly reliable turbine.
Better winds in 2007 help boost production At the end of 2007 there were 10,171 wind turbines in four countries – Denmark, Finland, Germany and Sweden – in WindStats’ data bases. These range in size from 4 kW to 3600 kW, with over 70 different company names represented – some of which are no longer in business or have merged with other companies. Of the 9,749 MW represented by the 10,171 turbines, 281 (559 MW) are offshore machines.
These stories plus... Wind turbine output and performance reports from over 7000 individual wind turbines–including side-by-side comparisons of capacity factors, kWh output, output per square meter of swept area, and more.
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