Wind turbine technologies

In recent years, wind turbines have been installed in the main land where wind speeds are more favorable. However, there is a current trend towards the installation of wind turbines offshore. Offshore wind shows several advantages in comparison with onshore locations, such as better wind climate, higher average wind speeds, reduced visual impact, and nonlimited turbine dimensions due to logistics. On the other hand, these installations present some drawbacks, such as complex wind turbine marine support structures and the logistics for installation, operation, and maintenance. These new conditions are leading wind power manufacturers to develop and design new turbine topologies to be installed in the future offshore wind power plants. This chapter deals with the most important types of wind turbines that have been proposed since 1970. They can be classified as fixed-speed wind turbine, limited speed wind turbine, variable speed with partial-scale converter, and variable speed with full-scale converter.