Wind Turbines Fundamentals, Technologies, Application, Economics

Wind Turbines addresses all those professionally involved in research, development, manufacture and operation of wind turbines. It provides a cross-disciplinary overview of modern wind turbine technology and an orientation in the associated technical, economic and environmental fields. It is based on the author's experience gained over decades designing wind energy converters with a major industrial manufacturer and, more recently, in technical consulting and in the planning of large wind park installations, with special attention to economics. For this 4th edition, new sections on innovative concepts were added, such as flying wind power plants and those connected to large buildings. The recent technological progress in energy storage systems and electrical grid integration, floating foundations and other offshore applications is documented. Moreover, patents and intellectual property protection are discussed in the commercial part.

Windmills and Windwheels.- Electrical Power from the Wind – The First Attempts.- Basic Concepts of Wind Energy Converters.- Physical Principles of Wind Energy Conversion.- Rotor Aerodynamics.- Loads and Structural Stresses.- Vibrational Characteristics.- Rotor Blades.- Mechanical Drive Train and Nacelle.- Electrical System.- Control Systems and Operational Sequence.- The Tower.- The Wind Resource.- Power Output and Energy Yield.- Environmental Impact.- Commercial Applications of Wind Turbines.- Offshore Wind Energy Utilisation.- Wind Turbine Installation and Operation.- Wind Turbine Costs.- Wind Turbine Economics.

Erich Hau has gained experience over decades designing wind energy converters with a major industrial manufacturer and, more recently, in technical consulting and in the planning of large wind park installations, with special attention to economics.

Sönke Siegfriedsen has designed and built his first wind turbine while writing his thesis. 4 years later - 26 years old – he has founded his engineering office aerodyn in1983. In the following 40 years, the engineering team has developed almost 30 different types of wind turbines with up to 10,000 kW for companies around world. To date, these companies have manufactured more than 60,000 turbines according to aerodyn documents. During these years Sönke Siegfriedsen made numerous inventions which resulted in more than 350 patents.