The Problem with Wind Energy

Wind turbine service technician here, actually modern machines doesnt need to achieve 1500-1800 rpm to produce power, thanks to the converter system its possible to start producing usable power as low as around 900-1000 rpm (about 3.5 / 4 m/s of wind on 150m diameter machines at max blade pitch angle). The way its done is simply to lower the voltage frequency on the generator side of the converters (while keeping 50/60Hz on the grid side). The 1500-1800 range is now more of a "max power" range if the wind speed is high enough (4.2MW for a Vestas V150 MK3E for example, at about 11m/s). About the maintenance on gearboxes in fact there is not really much to do most of the time, as soon as the service is correctly done (filter changes, oil levels) they can last more than the 7 years you are speaking without any issues. Of course gearboxes problems are possible, but they are pretty rare compared to the quantity of machines.

I procrastinate studying actual engineering by watching real engineer videos.

Currently working on turbines that are 20+ years old. Sure bearings and gearboxes go bad but these things crank out energy like it’s going out of style. And modern turbines are making power from 750rpm all the way up to 1500+ so the wind window is much wider than they used to be. Even the old ones I work on make power at 820rpm. In fact we normally are flagged for making too much and have to shut some towers off on high wind days.

Thanks for the video, but it's a bit outdated. Wind turbines nowadays have better power control systems that allow the "inertia" effect and allow 50/60Hz output and variable speed without all of the power going through an inverter. The gearbox has a design life equivalent to the turbine's design life (15 years in France generally). On a turbine from REpower I worked on, the flowing was built -in: - It has a winded rotor. No permanent magnets requiring rare earth. - At partial load (low wind): partial load variable speed wind turbines (VSWT) utilize a method where the rotor operates at variable speeds while maintaining a constant 50Hz output on the stator. This is achieved through the injection of variable frequency current into the rotor, which is controlled to match the desired output frequency on the stator side. - At full load (high wind), the pitch changes depending the wind speed and grid frequency to maintain the 50Hz - VSWT can provide an emulated inertial response by using the kinetic energy stored in the rotating mass of the turbine. This is similar to the inertial response provided by traditional synchronous generators. When there is a sudden drop in grid frequency, the turbines can quickly inject additional power to the grid, helping to stabilize the frequency. During frequency drops, the turbine can temporarily operate in overproduction mode, generating more power than its mechanical input by using stored kinetic energy. This rapid power injection helps to counteract the frequency drop. After the frequency stabilizes, the turbine can reduce its output to recover its rotational speed and maintain optimal operating conditions.

The people turning on kettles for tea during ad breaks at 5:45 is probably the most british thing I have ever heard.

Im an offshore wind turbine technician in the US. the platform i work on is a direct drive, no gearbox needed. Those generators are fascinating bits of tech.

Northern Ireland resident here, currently sitting maybe a few hundred metres away from a wind turbine. Great to hear about a topic like this that's right in my back yard (well, in the farmer's field next door). I had noticed a lot more wind turbines appearing across the countryside in recent years - didn't know that the island of Ireland had so much more wind than the average.

I really like your videos, but this time you missed... All those issues you are talking about in this video was solved 10y ago. Synthetic Inertia is mandatory in order to pass Grid Compliance Test, Gearbox issues are real strugle, but nobody is replacing them every 7y and cost is about 500k for full replacement including work and spare parts. Also, in the video, you are showing Enercon turbines, and those do not have any of those issues: No Gearbox, no permanent magnets, Synthetic Inertia is included 20y ago in every turbine...

Mechanical design engineer of windturbine gearboxes here. I can say that the section of the gearboxes is not 100% correct. Yes the sensitieve part of the gearbox are the bearings, in particular the high speed shaft. But a lot of development is done in the bearing and bearing arrangement to reduce these failures to max 5-10 in a popultion of 1000. Also current gearboxed exist of 2 or even 3 planetary stages. These are just a few things

little fun fact: enercon brand wind turbines (the ones wich have a egg shaped top housing and are very recognizable at 0:24) are the only widely used turbines w/o a gearbox, they instead have a large "pancake" style generator wich does not need any gears and is made specifically to generate peak power at the lower RPM the blades spin at its also why the housing is egg shaped edit: enercon recently celebrated 40 years and their first direct drive turbine, the E-40 was developed in the early 90s direct drive is nothing new, nothing that needs to "prove itself", its been proven and reliable for over 30 years now

What I love: In most channels, a title like this prompts hundreds of totally uninformed comments about why wind power doesn't work. Here, you get lots of comments by actual engineers who know what they are talking about, giving real-world insights into specific issues

The comments are as educational as the video. This is not a criticisism. It is encouragement to read the comments. This is the first really interesting video I have seen on wind power, good job.

That's hilarious to know an entire county's electrical grid can be tripped by people watching TV and all getting up to make tea at the same time.

8:15 is that a FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER?!?!!!11!!1

I actually worked with the Delft Offshore Turbine team to work on a new system which has self-aligning piston rolling which don't have the Brinelling effect. These are actually turbines which pump water to a central generator. The weight of the turbine head is thereby reduced and the turbine can therefore be made higher (more wind power).

the answer to any question related to electricity generation is always nuclear fission

In 2015 I worked at a R&D company Artemis that was bought by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to make a variable ratio fluid power takeoff for the (then) largest turbine in the world at 7MW. I was the senior engineer leading the development of the high speed motors that turned the generator shafts that span at 1000rpm supplying synchronous power to the grid and helping with grid stabilisation. That speed was sufficient because of the number of pole-pairs on the generator. There were two prototypes installed: one in Hunterston, Glasgow and the other a floating wind turbine off Fukusfhima, Japan and they were both successful. We won the MacRobert award- the Nobel prize for engineering in the UK. The project was canned after the prototypes- don’t know why. Aside from our solution there are ‘medium’ speed gearboxes that obviously power slower generators. There’s not much on the web about it.

I know someone who works for a company developing HVDC links to connect country grids together, really cool tech. Maybe a video about HVDC can be a good complimentary video to this one.

The flywheel you refer to is called a Synchronous Condenser. We have a lot of them in the U.S. You disconnect the old steam turbine from the generator and attach a starting motor. You spin the generator up to synchronous speed and synch it to the grid, and then disconnect it from the starting motor. It uses power from the grid to continue running. You then have the spinning mass required to help stabilize the grid. This is currently the best means of voltage and frequency stabilization for all the renewable energy coming on line.

I've been saying for more than 10 years that renewables can never be a solution on their own because we need to also invest in energy storage and frequency control technologies. I know this because I worked in energy grid modelling and optimisation, specifically focusing on how we can maintain a stable grid as we continue to push renewables penetration. So I know a thing or two about this stuff. But every time I said anything like this, I would get downvoted or banned or whatever. People must have thought I was anti-renewables, which is totally not the case. Anyway, I'm glad you (and others) have had more success getting this message into the mainstream.