Palm trees designed foldable giant 200 meter wind turbines blades, to withstand extreme winds.
American Research Center Sandia National Laboratories the designers of the new turbines, installed the blades downwind, and not into the wind like today’s model, featuring 650-foot blades that can generate up to 50 megawatts of power.
Illustration by Trevor Johnston
In order to meet US Department of Energy’s plan, to generate 20 percent of the nation’s electrical power from wind by 2030, a great number of wind turbines must be located offshore, where winds are much stronger.
Offshore winds can hit up to 200 mph and easily destroy a turbine.
A 10 MW wind turbine with 82 m blades. The blades morph downstream, actively aligning themselves to reduce cantilever forces on the blade:
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