FROM THE EDITOR

摘要

Driving for efficiency, reliability and economy, turbine designers are constantly wrestling with the apparently conflicting choices these three factors engender. Perhaps inevitably, by making machines more robust - and therefore more reliable - their weight would be expected to increase. Any such increase in mass has a corresponding impact on foundations and towers, the requirements for heavy lifting gear and challenges in sourcing components and potential subcontractors capable of manufacturing such high precision parts. All of these factors have an influence on costs, and not just on the costs of installation, but also on the operations and maintenance regimes, and ultimately on the most vital consideration for investors in and developers of energy infrastructure - the lifetime cost of energy produced from these machines.