Technological partnerships are a priority for wind energy

In a relatively short time, the wind industry has become one of the main global trends. Today, this sector of renewable energy is discussed not just as an interesting solution, experiment, or tool. Experts say it is an industry capable of ensuring energy surplus and accelerating the development of an entire nation's economy.

Moreover, wind energy is a high-tech business with multi-billion rubles turnovers. However, despite the optimism surrounding forecasts, there are still challenging questions that need to be addressed in the development of the industry. We discussed this and more with Andrey Litvinenko, the Executive Director of  "Elektronmash" JSC.

– Wind energy is rapidly developing worldwide and has already become a powerful independent industry. But how necessary is it in Russia?

– When considering the necessity of wind energy in Russia, we should perhaps ask what time frame we are discussing. If we talk about tomorrow, for instance, June 2019, the immediate reaction might be, "Why do we need it? Everything is fine as it is; it's just something related to politically trendy global solutions." We have a sufficient reserve of hydrocarbons, we possess the necessary generating capacity, we are striving for energy efficiency, and unfortunately, the population of Russia is not increasing in an arithmetic progression, meaning, theoretically, we should have enough.

However, this perspective only seems valid at first glance and only when measuring needs over a short interval, while examining the immediate realities surrounding us. When we look at the situation from a long-term perspective, it becomes quite clear that wind energy and other alternative energy sources are indeed promising ventures.

Undoubtedly, the first to recognize and feel these prospects were countries with low reserves of hydrocarbon resources, and not just hydrocarbons but also territorial resources, such as Germany, Denmark, Spain, Britain, and France. Historically, these are countries with high industrial and economic potential, enabling them to conduct targeted developments of a kind of "perpetual motion machine," the formula for which has been sought since the Middle Ages.

In reality, everything happening in the technical sphere is always grounded in a strong economic foundation. The independence of wind energy from the cost and availability of hydrocarbons is the main driver for the growth of this industry.

Today, the world possesses high-tech machine engineering, advanced means of modeling the aerodynamics of objects, excellent observation and forecasting capabilities based on accumulated data and statistical climate models. Consequently, all this allows for the creation of modern high-tech "perpetual motion machines" — wind turbines of up to 8 MW, whose power generation is comparable to the energy consumption of an average district in a Russian city with a population of one million.

Now, in Russia, we are beginning to understand that wind energy is not an experiment, not a gadget, not an environmentalist's tool, but an industry capable of quickly providing energy surplus and economic development on one hand, and on the other, it is a high-tech business with multi-billion dollar turnovers. Currently, we find ourselves in the role of buyers, having fallen behind technologically.

This understanding leads us, as an enterprise in the electrical engineering sector, to realize that the time has come to urgently engage in the fight for technologies in the production of electricity from renewable sources.

It should be noted that the simplicity of the principle of converting wind energy into electrical energy does not imply technological simplicity. A modern wind installation with a capacity of several megawatts is a combination of the latest technical achievements. It is necessary to ensure the strength and lightness of the giant blades, the nacelle, and the tower. Specialized generators, precision mechanical gearboxes, and finally, converters based on power electronics must be employed. All of this must operate and interact under the control of specialized software. The implementation of such projects requires the latest advancements in aerodynamics, materials science, metalworking, electrical engineering, power electronics, programming, and construction; the efficiency of the entire installation depends on this, and the competition is for tenths of a percent.