Wind Power Gains as Gear Improves

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/business/energy-environment/wind-power-gains-as-gear-improves.html

Wind Power Gains as Gear Improves

By KATE GALBRAITH
Published: August 7, 2011

The electric wind turbines built 30 years ago, after the 1970s oil-price shocks increased interest in the industry, often experienced serious problems. Some came apart in bad storms, some did not work well, even in good weather, and still others found insects piling up on the blades, slowing power production. Bird deaths at some early wind farms were alarmingly high.

Challenges remain, but the technology has come a long way in recent years, and wind farm operators have learned plenty of tricks, too, like the importance of shutting down the machines in high winds and the best places to put them to begin with.

The turbines have grown larger, and more effective. One model made today by Vestas, a Danish turbine manufacturer, can produce 300 times as much power as a turbine sold 15 years ago, according to Finn Strom Madsen, the president of technology research and development for Vestas.

But experts say that vast improvements in wind technology still lie ahead — which makes sense for an industry that is about 100 years behind, say, that of the automobile.

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