The
€5.4m
($7m)
SupraPower
research
and
development
project,
being
shepherded
by
Spain’s
Fundación
Tecnalia
Research
&
Innovation,
aims
to
devise
a
direct-drive
machine
that
produces
high
energy
output
from
a
design
with
a
“radical
reduction”
in
the
weight
of
rotor
and
nacelle.
Capital
cost
savings
are
expected
from
the
generator
by
using
less
than
one
hundredth
of
the
quantity
of
expensive
rare
earths
needed
to
make
most
conventional
permanent-magnet
systems.
The
turbine’s
direct-drive
system
should
also
improve
life-cycle,
and
so
trim
operation
and
maintenance
costs.
At
the
heart
of
the
SupraPower
turbine
concept
is…
