The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has created a collaboration with the six leading wind turbine makers to promote advanced research and development.

Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Andy Karsner announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) creating the two-year collaboration with GE Energy (NYSE: GE), Siemens Power Generation (NYSE: SI), Vestas Wind Systems (VWS.DE), Clipper Turbine Works (CWP.L), Suzlon Energy (SUZL.BO), and Gamesa Corporation (GTQ1.DE).

The agreement builds on the recently released DOE report '20 Percent Wind Energy in 2030' that examines the technical feasibility of harnessing wind power to provide up to 20% of the nation's total electricity needs by 2030.

"The MOU between DOE and the six major turbine manufacturers demonstrates the shared commitment of the federal government and the private sector to create the roadmap necessary to achieve 20% wind energy by 2030," DOE Assistant Secretary Karsner said.

DOE and the six turbine manufacturers will collaborate to gather and exchange information in the following areas:

1) Turbine Reliability and Operability Research & Development to create more reliable components; improve turbine capacity factors; and reduce installation and operations and maintenance costs.

2) Siting Strategies to address environmental and technical issues like radar interference in a standardized framework based on industry best practices.
Standards Development for turbine certification and universal generator interconnection.

3) Manufacturing advances in design, process automation and fabrication techniques to reduce product-to product variability and premature failure, while increasing the domestic manufacturing base.

4) Workforce development including the development, standardization and certification of wind energy curricula for mechanical and power systems engineers and community college training programs.

Yesterday the DOE announced that U.S. wind power capacity increased by 46% in 2007, on $9 billion of investments.