Siemens to open Colo. wind turbine R&D center

Siemens Energy plans to open its first U.S. wind turbine research and development facility in Boulder, Colo.

The energy sector of the German company made the announcement on Tuesday in Houston, Texas, at Windpower 2008, the American Wind Energy Association's annual conference.

The center will concentrate on everything from designing better wind turbine components such as aerodynamic blades to conducting atmospheric-science research.

The strongest wind turbine Siemens currently makes has a capacity of 3.6 megawatts, according to the company. The one being used in Colorado will have a 2.3-megawatt capacity.

(Credit: Siemens)

As part of the plan, Siemens Energy will collaborate with the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) to install a Siemens 2.3-megawatt (MW) wind turbine at the National Wind Technology Center located just outside of Boulder.

"The creation of these green jobs is good for our economy and our communities and will help set us on a path of greater energy independence," Colorado Governor Bill Ritter said in a statement.

The Siemens R&D center, however, will create only about "12 to 15 green-collar positions in the first year," with a total of 50 new jobs in Colorado by 2013, according to Siemens' own estimates. And those jobs may not be what many economic reports predict could supplant lost jobs for blue-collar professionals.

Most of the employees of the new Siemens facility will be "new hires with a Ph.D. or master's degree in the desired disciplines," according to the Siemens announcement.

Siemens already has wind turbine R&D centers in Copenhagen, Denmark; Aachen, Germany; Delft, the Netherlands; and Keele, United Kingdom. The U.S. facility will share gained wind technology knowledge with those facilities.

The announcement follows news that increased costs in materials, coupled with engineering challenges, are hindering Europe's push to use more renewable sources like wind energy by 2020, according to a report by Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

[djwu]

In related news, Vestas Wind Systems is also opening an R&D center in Houston, which will staff 100 researchers by 2010.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/5815356.html

[climatejunker]

WashingTongue Post Hole: Siemens to open Colo. wind turbine R&D center | Planetary Gear: a CNET blog on mechanical engineering technology - CNET News.com

[suyts]

That was good for a laugh or two. Thanks. Hard to explain how we are now cooler than we were 25 years ago and CO2 causes warming.
http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com/
Now can we stop this lunacy of worrying about climate change and get on with the business of creating wealth and increasing the standards of living for people worldwide? Or do we need to continue to show how this climate change hysteria was a complete farce.

[suyts]

Until we learn how to store AC power, this approach will never work. Wind is a great source of energy, until it stops blowing. When the wind stops, an alternate source for electricity must be used to prevent a blackout. Meaning an entire electricity generating plant has to be built to back up the wind power. Knowing that one cannot used the cheap coal or nuke plants for backup (it takes to long to adjust the output for both) one would have to use a gas or oil fired plant. Further driving up the cost of energy.
No big deal though, must of this lunacy will stop once the facts about warming and CO2 are revealed to the people of this world. Here's a start.
http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com/
Look at the graph.
Hard to explain how we are now cooler than we were 25 years ago and CO2 causes warming.
Now can we stop this lunacy of worrying about climate change and get on with the business of creating wealth and increasing the standards of living for people worldwide? Or do we need to continue to show how this climate change hysteria was a complete farce.

[WindEnergy7-com]

That point of view is as ignorant as the propaganda about birds flying into wind turbines. i work for WindEnergy7.com and I know a little about wind turbines and how effective they are. A wind turbine will ROI in 7 to 10 years, will pay for itself. This works on any scale, a home, a farm, a commercial wind farm. My friend, look again, think it through, wind power is great.

Your points about Global Warming are well taken IMO. I put in turbines because theyt are a great investment. They make cheap power and anyone can have one. Can anyone put a nuclear plant, a cole plant, a hydro dam, in their backyard. Wind is almost everywhere! I sell turbines to power a home that cost less than most people will pay for a car!

Read about these wind farms, first ones in Texas, power flows daily for years and years, equipment paid for itself. There's no problem with this, that's why Texas has now deployed twice what California has. This is no fad, this was succeeding BEFORE any global warming hysteria and should not be lumped with all that...
http://windenergy7.com/turbines/?tag=culberson-county-wind-farm

[Joe1327a]

I was in Pittsburgh in November for an invention contest; needless to say I was impressed with one of the inventions which will be the next generation of wind turbine generators. If I am quoting this correctly the generator design allow the capture of up to 60% more energy from the wind in a single unit. The ramifications of this design are impressive. The physical prototype was the size of the medium size electric motor, though the inventor ?John Kelley? has plans to build his generator design on a large scale with appropriate funding and have it released to the market with in five years. This is a guy to watch!! His investor presentation video can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXub1j7Q2Is