Status of the large wind turbine handbook

The site-selection strategy presented here and in the LWH is conservative, partially because utilities are conservative. They should be. The large-scale generation of electricity by wind turbine generators is an unproven technology. It is assumed that wind characteristics at a site will have to be thoroughly documented. This is because the nature of the wind at the site not only governs the energy output of the WECS farm, but also affects the service life of the wind equipment and both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance costs. Perhaps as experience is gained, the site-selection process can be simplified. Certain steps may be found unnecessary, or requirements on the quantity and quality of wind data collected at each step may be relaxed; however, at this stage of wind energy development, a conservative approach seems prudent.