FRIEDRICH KLINGER

Recent State of Wind Turbine Technology and Transition to Renewables in Germany

Abstract

Increasing size and power up to 8MW for offshore turbines and up to 4 MW for onshore sites are coming to the market. The drive train technology is using gearboxes as Vestas or Direct Drive as Goldwind, the number one worldwide in 2015. Hybrid towers up to 140m using concrete and steel are coming in Europe. Independent electric and hydraulic pitch systems assure power regulation and are the part of the safety equipment to stop the rotor in all circumstances.  Offshore turbines are mounted on fixed foundations for 10 to 50m water depth and floating foundations are in development for water depth up to 500m.

Biographical Sketch

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Friedrich Klinger received diplomas in mechanical engineering from Technical College Saarbrücken and Technical University Karlsruhe, Germany, in the years 1956 and 1960, respectively and a Ph.D. from Technical University Aachen, Germany, in 1977.

Prof. Klinger started his professional carrier in 1965 in designing fatigue test equipment at Carl Schenk AG, Darmstadt, Germany.

In 1976, he became an R&D manager for testing machining at MTS Systems GmbH, Berlin, and later a member of the board of MTS Systems, Minneapolis, USA.

In 1982 he joined Saarland University of Applied Sciences as professor of mechanical engineering, when he also started developing direct drive prototypes Genesys and Vensys in a research group for wind energy, from where Vensys Energy AG started in 2000. Currently, as emeritus and CEO of INNOWIND Forschungsgesellschaft mbH, he is still into consulting and developing gearless wind turbines.