Environmental Engineering Reference
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Figure 4-. Typical configuration of current commercial wind turbines, with three-
bladed rotors upwind of tubular towers.
(
Courtesy of NREL
)
Trends in Large-Scale HAWT Designs
With the market maturing for land-based turbines, overall system designs are tending to
stabilize. This is due in part to the significant investment by the customer and required confi-
dence that the turbines will perform reliably throughout their operating lifetimes. However,
economic incentives to reduce operating costs continue to drive designs toward even larger
rotor diameters. Increased diameters in turn affect subsystems and components resulting in
the introduction of new materials to meet reliability requirements. Limits on transport and
assembly of very large components and subsystems can also drive the development of de-
signs such as segmented blades, new high-torque drives, and poured concrete towers.
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