Wind Energy Essentials

Course Learning Objectives

The objective of this course is to familiarize students with various essential aspects in harnessing wind energy and its conversion and delivery as electricity. It will consist of a series of seminars offered by various speakers.

Course Outcome

A broad understanding of essential elements in wind-electric systems: turbines, wind- plant development and their integration into the utility grid, environmental impacts, wind forecasting and more.

Course Outline & Lectures

Lec 1: Wind Assessment and Forecasting (Mark Ahlstrom - CEO Wind 
Logics, Inc.)  


Lec 2: Wind farm project development (Kate O'Hair- Director 
of Development for enXco, Midwest Office Minneapolis)


Lec 3: Foundation Design (Jennifer Entwistle- Senior Structural 
Engineer, Barr Engineering) 


Lec 4: Electrical Engineering Principles for Wind Energy 
Systems (Professor Ned Mohan, University of Minnesota)


Lec 5: Introduction to present-day wind energy scenario 
(Steven W. Saylors- P.E.Senior Specialist, Electrical 
Engineering, Regional Support Services) 


Lec 6: Wind Turbine Controls (Mihailo Jovanovic - ECE, Peter Seiler 
– AEM. University of Minnesota)


Lec 7: Materials and Structural Reliability (Sue Mantell - ME,
Henryk Stolarski – CE. University of Minnesota)


Lec 8: Blade Aerodynamics and Acoustics (Roger Arndt – CE.
University of Minnesota)  


Lec 9: Environmental Considerations: Radar Interference (Mos Kaveh 
– Associate Dean, College of Science and Engineering)


Lec 10: Power systems and protection for wind systems 
(Pratap Mysore- National Senior Relay and Protection Engineer, HDR)


Lec 11: Grid Integration (Matt Schuerger, Energy Systems 
Consulting Services)  

Course Slides

Slides (Google Drive Link)

Course Video Clips

Wind Energy Essential Videos