Wind turbines columns

The onshore wind turbine blades and the hubs are currently supported on a steel column, although there are examples where reinforced concrete material has been used (see Chapter 20, Section 20.5.6). The production area of the turbines is generally referred to as a wind farm, which is a group of wind turbines in the same location. A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines, which could cover an area of hundreds of square kilometres, but generally an onshore wind farm of 20... 

Composite materials/fabrication techniques to form the columns of the wind turbines... 

Considering the above constmction it may be seen that columns of the wind turbines are large and therefore composite construction is currently not cost-competitive with steel or concrete for tower structures, but with innovative designs and manufacturing processes of the composite materials it may be possible in future to construct composite towers utilising skeletal configurations. 

The Lewis project would have installed about 180 of the largest wind turbines in the world, in addition to over 200 pylons and conductors, all of which were illustrated in a computer visualization project during the period of public comment (Stephenson-Halliday, 2009). The 3.8 MW turbines would have a total height of 140 m (460 ft) with a rotor diameter of 107 m (358 ft). Each wind turbine would require a buried, reinforced-concrete foundation typically 22 x 22 m, up to 2 m thick (72 x 72 ft, 3-6 ft thick), with a 2 m (6 ft) high column in the middle for the tower. The wind turbines would be arranged in 9 groups. Each foundation would have adjacent a prepared area called the hardstanding for the installation cranes to use. 

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