Ongoing wind power research and development will help the industry harness more wind, more efficiently and at lower costs in the future.
The biggest factors in boosting wind turbine productivity — longer blades and taller towers — are fueling much of the next-generation research and development push to build a more powerful, efficient, durable and cost-effective turbine. Other important innovations are emerging to make turbine manufacturing easier and cheaper; create intelligent turbines that collect and interpret real-time data; and model and adjust wind plant flows and turbine configurations to maximize wind harvest.