Articles by

Eize De Vries

How Aloys Wobben made Enercon a direct-drive wind power pioneer

By

Eize De Vries

While traveling in Belgium the day after hearing about Wobben’s death, his direct-drive Enercon turbine heritage was prominently visible along the way. The turbines’ characteristic egg-shaped nacelles makes them easily recognisable, together with the unusual high-performance blade design featuring tip winglets and a widening spoiler towards the aerodynamically optimised spinner. Another visual characteristic is the slender prefab coning of the often concrete-steel hybrid towers with their patented colour scheme in different shades from dark green to lighter colours towards the white-grey upper structure.

WPM: Finding the optimum low-wind design combination

By

Eize De Vries

As fewer favourable high-wind speed sites are available, interest in effectively exploiting regions with lower wind speeds is growing worldwide. But in order to optimise results at these locations, wind technology is having to evolve, and equipment is being developed to target this market.