In 2004, the first Sandia Blade Workshop was held in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The average diameter of a rotor was 74 meters with just over 6 gigawatts of total installed wind capacity. Approaching 2018, the average rotor diameter has grown to over 108 meters with 85 gigawatts installed. The technology concepts proposed in 2004 are [...]
The National Solar Thermal Test Facility at Sandia could be used for collaborative research through the Small Business Voucher Pilot. (Photo by Randy Montoya) The DOE chose Sandia as one of five leads in a pilot that will give small, clean-energy companies access to national laboratory expertise and resources. Sandia will receive $2.75M [...]
Our nation relies upon a network of radars across the country to support the missions of homeland defense/ security, flight safety, and weather forecasting. The air-surveillance environment contains within it clutter, both stationary and moving. Wind turbines present a unique problem in that they can be both stationary and moving clutter and operate with [...]
Resources: Steps to Commercialization Sandia’s Technology Partnership website Partnerships for Business, Industry and Nonprofits Download the Partnerships Brochure A non-exhaustive list of test opportunities are: Rotors and blades New rotor blades/reference testing Minimal time and cost is required to exchange rotor blades. Other SWiFT turbines can serve as reference turbines and/or provide upwind turbulence interaction [...]
Test-Bed Wind Turbines Allow Facility Flexibility While Providing Reliable Data in Many Regimes SWiFT will initially consist of three research-scale wind turbines (modified Vestas V27s) with the first two turbines spaced three diameters apart, perpendicular to the oncoming wind, and the third turbine five diameters downwind. (The turbines form a 3-, 5-, and 6-rotor-diameter-length triangle.) The [...]
We are pleased to announce the publication of "A Model for the Nation: Promoting Education and Innovation in Vermont's Electricity Sector," a 70-page report summarizing the activities and outcomes of our Vermont-Sandia partnership's initial year. This document speaks to the broad collaborative effort involved, to the strong and enduring partnership, now formally known as the [...]
While one might be tempted by headlines to assume that wind-energy-related activity in the U.S. will come to a screeching halt at the end of the year, with the seemingly almost certain expiration of the federal production tax credit, that temptation would lead you astray. At least, that was the suggestion that grew [...]
Take a virtual tour of the SWiFT facility now! View SWiFT Tour The Scaled Wind Farm Technology (SWiFT) facility, located at Texas Tech University’s National Wind Institute Research Center in Lubbock, Texas, is the first public facility to use multiple wind turbines to measure turbine performance in [...]
Researchers at the Wind Energy Manufacturing Laboratory—a joint effort of researchers from TPI Composites, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based company that operates a turbine blade factory in Newton, and Sandia National Laboratories, and located at Iowa State University—used laser readings to calculate how dozens of the layers would fit and flow over the curves of [...]
For more information, please contact D. Todd Griffith. Sandia Blade and Turbine Design Models: Reports and Model Files Blade Models: Detailed Design Information (Blade Key: SNL[length(m)]-[version]) Blade Designation Blade Report Brief Description Design Scorecard Model Files Mini-report "SNL100-00" SAND2011-3779 (1.22MB PDF) Sandia 100m All-glass Baseline Blade SNL100-00 Design Scorecard (327KB PDF) SNL100-00 Model [...]
