Wind turbines are set to become a whole lot better at turning wind into energy after a team of Danish scientists tested a superconducting rotor on a turbine. So, you might be asking: what on Earth is a superconductor and how does it improve wind turbines?
A superconductor is a material capable of transporting electricity with no resistance. This means that no energy is lost through heat or dissipation of electricity. To achieve this efficiency, superconducting materials are usually kept at really low temperatures to maximize electricity transmission – these temperatures are usually around 40 kelvin or -405° Fahrenheit.
A huge advantage of transporting electricity with superconductors is increasing the power density of the wind turbines. In other words, they are able to ‘dump’ all their energy at once immediately into power lines so that it’s available for usage. This is a major improvement in the design of wind turbines since our current turbines can’t output all energy at once, making the current design lose energy in the process.
The great thing is these superconducting wind turbines are not speculation. Thus far, scientists have successfully implemented this model to be used in real systems like a factory. That means we could start seeing these ultra-efficient turbines very soon.
