Wind energy plays an important and growing role in the US energy profile. While other countries have expanded their wind industries into offshore development, large investment costs have hindered progress in the US offshore market despite the larger and more consistent resource available offshore. In this research, I explore the...
Energy from offshore wind could provide substantial power generation if further utilized. One area of significant research focus is in developing floating offshore wind devices, which would allow for wind energy to be gathered in deep water where driven monopile turbines are infeasible. However, floating offshore wind is not currently...
As climate change forces energy policy to incorporate environmental impacts and fuel diversification into the traditional model of energy security, finding ways to site, develop, and deliver renewable energy has taken on increasing importance across the United States. With no consistent federal framework to implement these changes, much of the...
The large wind resource off the United States West Coast has the potential to generate wind power for millions of homes, yet the high cost of energy for offshore wind power compared to traditional sources has slowed the development of offshore wind farms in the US. The four studies presented...
A private power company, Cape Wind Inc., wants to develop the largest wind farm in United States history off the coast of Cape Cod Massachusetts in a twenty-five square mile area of Nantucket Sound known as Horseshoe Shoal (HSS). However, Cape Wind must compete for the use of this area...
There is an increasing demand for marine space from many different economic sectors in the German coastal and exclusive economic zone: sand and gravel removal, wind farms, fisheries, shipping or oil and gas exploration. Additionally, the Natura 2000 directive requires the declaration of areas for nature con-servation. Opposite to other...
As more wind farms are connected to the grid, the variable nature of wind energy begins to influence grid stability. Energy storage could help smooth the variable nature of wind energy. Laboratory demonstration and exploration of the interaction between different energy storage devices and wind energy could help improve and...
Renewable energy technology continues to grow in popularity as countries aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Land based and offshore wind turbines are one option for expanding renewable energy sources. However, as wind energy adoption increases, so does the need for enhanced monitoring of wind turbines’ potential effect on local...
Bird and bat mortalities caused by interactions with wind turbines is a critical concern that requires addressing for conservation purposes. Deploying a low cost sensor array will be instrumental during site permitting, conducting impact assessments of existing wind farms, and assessing efficacy of wildlife mortality mitigation or wildlife deterrent technologies....
Despite widespread public support for renewable energy development, the siting of wind energy facilities can prove problematic due to opposition from surrounding communities. I propose a unifying framework to explain community response to wind energy development – showing how concepts from environmental sociology related to local biophysical and socioeconomic conditions...
The effects of selected atmospheric variables on the power output
of a DOE Mod-2 horizontal-axis wind turbine are studied. Particular
attention is focused on unsteady, nonuniform flow conditions
within the rotor disc as represented by vertical profiles measured at
adjacent meteorological towers. Primary variables are wind speed,
wind direction and...
Development of wave and offshore wind-based marine renewable energy is anticipated on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) off Oregon and much of the Pacific Northwest in the coming decade. Multiple issues related to environmental considerations and information needs remain for these emerging industries. The Oregon Marine Renewable Energy Environmental Science...
Over the last decade, wind penetration in the Pacific Northwest has increased rapidly. The variable nature of this massive new resource has increased stress on the hydropower resource to the point where system limits are currently being reached. In order to cultivate continued growth of the wind energy industry both...
The fast growth of wind energy utilization has necessitated research into wind energy integration. Due to the variable nature of wind and the forecasting challenges, it is desirable to utilize wind energy alongside energy storage sources for reliable wind energy integration. This work details the design of a 25 kW...
This research intends to provide insights into community wind energy development in Oregon using an integrated analysis approach, which incorporates GIS Suitability Analysis, Socio-Political Analysis, and Empirical Case Studies. In the GIS analysis, we developed a model through a series of steps (including data acquisition, preprocessing, data management, manipulation and...
This thesis presents and examines the concept that the output of a wound-rotor induction generator (WRIG) can be limited by means of linking to external impedances for wind-turbine generating system application. An 80kW-WRIG is simulated as a model to examine the control of the output power vs. speed characteristic. Model...
About 2 percent of the solar energy reaching earth is converted to wind energy. Surface winds have the potential to supply about 30 times the total energy consumed in the United States. Achieving this potential on a household level is a feat
This thesis evaluates new, large power generating plants of
the various types expected to be practicable in the time span of
the next 50 years. By using thermodynamic principles, the plants
are evaluated on the basis of conservation of energy; the basic
assumption is that the best policy is the...
The number of wind turbines and wind farms in the Pacific Northwest has increased dramatically in the past six years, which represents a significant amount of electrical generation capacity connected to the public electric grid. However, the variable nature of wind sometimes introduces excessive power, or conversely shortages, in power...