GreenTechMedia attends a wind energy conference in Palm Springs, then explores nearly San Gorgonia Pass, home of hundreds of wind turbines. Some are thirty years old. This was one of the birthplaces of US wind power and you can see the history everywhere, modern turbines next to antiquated ones.
At Windpower 2011, the talk was of technology advances, 7.5- to 15-megawatt machines, more maintenance-free permanent magnet direct-drive power trains, less environmentally and aesthetically constrained offshore sites and ways to push regulators toward new high-capacity direct-current transmission.
Onward!