GE, Siemens, Gamesa sign DoE wind deal

Greenbang has always wondered about the term memorandum of understanding. How understanding do you have to be?

If your co-signer turns up half-cut at 3 am in the morning wanting a party and you’ve got to get up early the next day, do you have to be understanding then? Let them in, have a shot of brandy? And if there’s a memorandum of understanding, is there a memorandum of enmity? Do you sign up to annoy each other wherever possible?

All questions prompted by Greenbang’s favourite government department, the US Department of Energy, which has put pen to paper on a memorandum of understanding with six wind turbines companies. The memo will see them all get stuck in on R&D together for the next two years.

The six are (drum roll please) GE Energy, Siemens Power Generation, Vestas Wind Systems, Clipper Turbine Works, Suzlon Energy, and Gamesa Corporation.

All this hand-holding is prompted by the US target of 20 percent wind energy by 2030, says the DoE.
Here’s what they’ll be looking at under that memorandum:

• Turbine Reliability and Operability Research & Development to create more reliable components; improve turbine capacity factors; and reduce installation and operations and maintenance costs.
• 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.
• Manufacturing advances in design, process automation and fabrication techniques to reduce product-to product variability and premature failure while increasing the domestic manufacturing base.
• Workforce development including the development, standardization and certification of wind energy curricula for mechanical and power systems engineers and community college training programs.