Test facility for wind turbines

The Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) invested $2.6 million in a wind turbine test facility in Lubbock, Texas, in partnership with Texas Tech University and Sandia National Laboratories, that broke ground on construction on July 17.

The Scaled Wind Farm Technology (SWIFT) facility will have room for up to ten wind turbines to measure how wind turbine wakes interact with one another on a wind farm. The facility is designed to help turbine manufacturers and designers drive down the cost of wind energy by reducing the aerodynamic losses of wind energy plants, mitigating turbine damage and enhancing energy capture.

The site will initially use two research-scale wind turbines provided by DOE and a 300 kV turbine installed by Vestas Technology Research & Development in Houston.

www.vestas.com