This could be significant: http://cleantechnica.com/2009/04/29/wind-turbine-output-boosted-30-by-breakt hrough-design/#comment-71581
Another potential advance would be in converting the output of a windmill into hydrogen in situ. There are losses, but this allows nighttime wind energy to be stored for 8-12 hours for use during peak demand. Any thoughts on that? Wind energy is poised for a big boost under this administration, and it would be very prudent to do it correctly, using the very latest thinking and advances from other fields. It is clear to me that many utilities - the people who market electrical power, consider that in a free market, which this is NOT, "peak power" would be worth at least double, and in some cases 400% more than nighttime power (which is when the wind blows strongly in the Prairie States). This is why solar makes sense, since even at $1 watt for the solar cell - the electricity costs 4-6 times more than from a coal plant. For instance: If UHEWS becomes a reality (ultra high efficiency water-splitting) at what level does it make sense to incorporate hydrogen generation into the individual mill and dispense with electrical output altogether ? IOW - let's say that all of the recent advances in water splitting, which have been reported here recently - such as the Nocera anode half-cell electrode material, etc - and everything else on the cutting edge can result in a small gain say COP of 1.3 or so, based on the heat value of the H2 vs the electrical input . .. does it make sense to design the windmill, and the wind farm - from the git-go to make only hydrogen, which is storable, even if not "easily storable" and transportable via pipelines (if they are designed to avoid embrittlement)? .. or do you need a higher COP than this to make the choice obvious? Of course - going the other way - from having H2 readily available at the population center, but going back electricity for the customer is lossy, even with fuel cells, but H2 can be transported for long distance with the only loss being pumping. How does that compare to line losses? Is there an offset or advantage for pipeline transport there that makes H2 more attractive if one develops a huge wind farm in say the Dakotas, where there is ample wind ? Does anyone know if some percentage of H2 can be mixed with natural gas for home use? I assume some must be tolerated as there is some in the gas wells to being with. Yes - I am sure all of this info is available from googling - but we have many wind experts, aficionados, and tek-followers here amongst us, and I would like to give one of them the "soap-box" and opportunity to expound on how they see wind energy evolving, due to synergy with other R&D. Jones
