The Leading Edge: July 2021 Wind Energy Newsletter nrel.gov - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nrel.gov Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Offshore Wind Data Release Propels Wind Prospecting
NREL has released several new offshore wind data sets that represent 20-year time spans. Using state-of-the-art modeling tools and sophisticated resource assessment technologies, these updated data sets provide wind energy developers, consultants, and researchers access to high-quality wind resource information that can inform future offshore wind energy siting decisions and research.
Floating lidars, such as this U.S. Department of Energy wind resource characterization buoy managed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, collect wind speed and direction measurements up to 250 meters from the surface of the ocean. These measurements, combined with satellite-based measurements of near-surface U.S. offshore wind speeds, help
Offshore Wind Plugs Energy into Homes and Businesses Back on Shore
Offshore wind turbines have the potential to provide abundant clean energy to heavily populated coastal cities and the larger national grid. But first, the power they generate must be transmitted across miles of ocean waters and coastline, using systems that were not designed to be used this way.
Building on its success with integration from its world-renowned work on utility-scale renewable energy systems to its comprehensive vision for offshore wind development and collaboration with industry partners the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is launching new strategies to plug offshore installations into the grid.
All in a Day s Work
Wind power plants and their associated workforce affect the local and surrounding communities in ways both concrete and indirect. These impacts vary from spending at local businesses to the role that these companies and workers play in the quality of life within the communities.
A new NREL report details the positive long-term economic impact wind plant operation and maintenance workers bring to their communities, providing additional insight into community benefits brought about by wind power development.
Almost 99% of wind turbines in the United States exist in rural areas like the above wind turbines pictured near Dumas, Texas making research on workforce impacts in these