TITLE:
Using the United States Wind Turbine Database to Identify Increasing Turbine Size, Capacity and Other Development Trends
AUTHORS:
Chad Walker
KEYWORDS:
Wind Energy, Wind Turbines, USWTDB, Renewable Energy, Turbine Capaci-ty, Turbine Size
JOURNAL NAME:
Energy and Power Engineering,
Vol.12 No.7,
July
27,
2020
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this article was to analyze data associated
with advances in wind energy across the United States. While governments,
academia, and the private sector generally know patterns of wind turbine
development (i.e. turbine size and
capacity growing in recent years), there is no known independent, reliable,
and/or updated summary of these variables. Using data collected by the Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory and partners, this study used descriptive
statistics to show turbine development and growth patterns from 1981-2019. The newly created United States Wind
Turbine Database (USWTDB) represents the most comprehensive account of
wind turbine information and was updated in January 2020. Variables I am
interested in here are turbine manufacturer, state of project, turbine and
project capacity, and turbine size. Findings provide empirical evidence to
support the common, yet previously unrefined statements that wind turbines are
growing larger in number, size and capacity. This growth is varied over spatial
and temporal scales. I also provide evidence to show patterns of turbine
manufacturing, with GE Wind dominating much of the US wind energy landscape
today. I hope this work provides a timely resource for those interested in a
variety of questions surrounding wind energy development in the United States.
Perhaps more importantly, this analysis will hopefully inspire others to use
what the USWTDB provides and answer larger questions surrounding wind energy
futures.