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Scientists seek to drive down wind costs

M&C News|May 25, 2006
United Kingdom (UK)Technology

Wind energy is expected to play a big part in meeting this target, but doubts remain over the cost of turbines and the difficulty in finding suitable locations for large-scale wind farm projects.


Scientists have launched a new £2 million project to find ways of making wind energy more efficient.

The UK is hoping to generate 20 per cent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2020.

Wind energy is expected to play a big part in meeting this target, but doubts remain over the cost of turbines and the difficulty in finding suitable locations for large-scale wind farm projects.

Researchers from Durham University will lead this new initiative, which forms part of the £40 million Supergen sustainable power generation programme.

Principal investigator, Professor Peter Tayner, said his team hoped to find ways of making offshore wind farms, which are much easier to secure sites for, more economical.

"The offshore wind resource …
... more [truncated due to possible copyright]
Scientists have launched a new £2 million project to find ways of making wind energy more efficient.

The UK is hoping to generate 20 per cent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2020.

Wind energy is expected to play a big part in meeting this target, but doubts remain over the cost of turbines and the difficulty in finding suitable locations for large-scale wind farm projects.

Researchers from Durham University will lead this new initiative, which forms part of the £40 million Supergen sustainable power generation programme.

Principal investigator, Professor Peter Tayner, said his team hoped to find ways of making offshore wind farms, which are much easier to secure sites for, more economical.

"The offshore wind resource is much larger but the costs of building and maintaining off-shore wind turbines are currently seen as high," he said.

"Over the next four years we are going to look at engineering solutions that could create large-scale wind turbine systems that are both cost-effective and reliable and could generate a significant proportion of the UK's energy needs."

This project comes amid growing concern about future oil and gas supplies.

To date, renewable energy has failed to offer a viable alternative to traditional fuels, which has seen the government consider building new nuclear power stations in a bid to meet its Kyoto commitments.


Source:http://news.monstersandcritic…

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