The 3MW concept, being hatched by a team fromFraunhofer IWES and Saarland Technical College, will use a modular drive-trainarchitecture in which the rotor blades are connected directly to a permanentmagnet generator rather than to the nacelle hub.

The design is calculated to create a featherlightconstruction with standardised parts that will streamline the "verycomplex and cost-intensive" logisticsof transport and installation of heavy turbine components, especially onhostile offshore environments.

"Futurewind