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| Publisher's Note July/August 2005 |
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| Thursday, 30 June 2005 | |
Comparison of Products….In this issue of Windtech International we introduce a new item called Product Survey. This is a technical product overview of equipment, instruments, hardware systems and software. We will be inviting manufacturers or distributors to participate by describing their products for comparison and further information. It is our goal to present a comprehensive overview of products available on the market in a certain category. For this issue we contacted vendors of SCADA systems. All participants answered a questionnaire and we present the results in columns next to each other, which makes it easy for you to compare the different systems. Unfortunately, not all companies invited were able to participate at this time. For instance, REpower is currently developing a new system and our survey came too early. The system will be branded REguard and they are planning a first presentation in September during HusumWind 2005. Also, Suzlon Energy is currently working on a new system and was not able to reveal details at this stage. It is our intention to publish more Product Surveys during the year about different topics. We welcome your ideas and suggestions for these Product Surveys. We trust that this new item is a valuable information source for our industry. With all the upcoming offshore wind farms, transferring people and equipment to and from a turbine becomes an important issue. This is not a new problem, but it is topical for the wind energy industry at the moment. In order to generate as much energy as possible, the downtime of turbines must be limited. Methods are needed to enable people and equipment to be transferred to wind turbines with high wave heights and under most weather conditions. On page 19 you can find more information and an overview of the available methods and systems, ranging from RIBs to using helicopters and special-purpose systems. We are striving to cover new and innovative technologies in our magazine as much as possible. On page 26 we present you with an article about multi-rotor turbines for offshore wind farms. This concept is based on thinking that points towards an offshore turbine that works with Nature, rather than against her. The author describes a new design that adds several of these highly refined rotors to the same driveshaft, for more power, higher rpm and less complexity. Thinking out of the box is sometimes necessary to achieve great progress and this is a good example of that. The offshore multi-rotor turbine is not built yet but we will certainly keep you updated on the progress and report about it in future issues. I wish you much reading pleasure. Floris Siteur Publisher |
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