Fixing a wind turbine on the top of a really tall flagpole (OK, maybe a little more secure than that) sounds like a tough proposition, yet that is what a repairmen would have to deal with when a wind turbine breaks....or rent a crane which is the usual plan. GE is looking to change that with the opening of a new wind turbine repair lab in Albany...just up the road from its R&D Center in Niskayuna. The lab is tasked with developing "new repair methods, tools and parts."
GE is the all time wind patent leader through 2012 and has scored well through the third quarter of last year according to the Clean Energy Patent Growth Index (www.cepgi.com). Clean Energy patent results for all of 2013 in full are coming soon (stay tuned to this space...) and odds are that GE will continue to lead the wind patent race...and in the future may even pull even further away with the techniques and technologies developed at its new wind turbine repair lab.