Same Wind Conditions, More Productive Turbines Wind and solar
power are the two main pillars of our clean energy future
(combined with hydro where it makes sense, deep rock geothermal
when costs can be brought down, wave power, maybe someday
thorium, some biomass/biofuels where they make sense, etc). If
we take a closer look at wind power, huge progress has been made
in past decades, and while some advances are obvious – wind
turbines have been getting bigger all the time – some
improvements are making a difference in more subtle ways. Your
Phone Isn’t the Only Thing Getting Smarter A lot of progress has
been made in making a wind turbine of a given size more
productive, from better positioning individual wind turbines and
whole wind farms thanks to better computer models to improving
the efficiency of various components, from rotor blades to all
of the mechanical parts inside the nacelle, all of this
connected to sensors and clever software to optimize operations
under a wider range of conditions. Improving