Progress and recent trends of wind energy technology

In this paper, along with the progress of modern wind energy technology, the trends of wind energy technology and potential challenges have been studied thoroughly. It is estimated that within the next 2-3 decades, the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) can dominate the wind-energy technology. The VAWT requires less land space and using the same space; it is capable of producing more wind energy than that of its counterpart. By implying the Fish Schooling Concept effectively and successfully, it is possible to advance the wind-energy technology more. In the last 3-4 decades, the wind turbine capacity has been increased around 30-40 times. With the increase of wind energy capacity, the demand of the energy storage system has been increased significantly. Along with the many energy storage systems, fuel cells and batteries are the two most promising devices to meet the demand in RE systems. The wind-energy technology is established itself but not yet fully mature and hence there are many areas where improvements are required to reduce the cost of wind energy. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.