Dow Corning spokesman Jarrod Erpelding said the Midland, Mich.-based company applied for the grant to support its research and development in the field.

We have ongoing research into what we can do to make wind turbines more durable, more reliable, because theres a tremendous amount of maintenance costs associated with gearboxes and other components if theyre not lubricated appropriately, Erpelding told Lube Report. As theyre putting more and more of these wind turbines in harsher environments – oceans, salts and such – theyre also making larger and larger wind turbines now, to generate more power. There are challenges that come with that.

Erpelding said that while U.S. Senators announced the approval of the funding July 15, Dow Corning had not received official notification as of last Friday. We havent heard from the Department of Energy themselves, so we dont have a lot to talk about just yet, he said.

Most wind turbine gearbox lubricants are synthetic or mineral-based, Erpelding noted.

In an informal survey of 75 wind farm operators in the United States conducted last year by Frontier Pro Services, gearbox failures accounted for the largest amount of downtime, maintenance and loss of power production. Such failures can add up to 15 to 20 percent of the price of the turbine itself, according to Banning, Calif.-based Frontier.

The DoE grant was part of a wider selection of 28 new wind energy projects across the nation for up to $13.8 million in funding, including $12.8 million in Recovery Act funds.

The DoE last week also released its 2008 Wind Technologies Market report, detailing investment in wind projects made in the United States in 2008. According to the report, the $16 billion investment in wind projects made the U.S. the fastest-growing wind power market in the world for the fourth consecutive year. Wind power contributed 42 percent of all new U.S. electric generating capacity in 2008.

Texas led all states with 7,118 megawatts of total wind capacity installed, followed by Iowa (2,791 megawatts) and California (2,517 megawatts). Seven states now have more than 1,000 megawatts installed, and 13 have more than 500.

Although the report doesnt detail lubricant issues for wind turbine gearboxes, it does note, some wind turbine manufacturers experienced blade and gearbox problems among their fleet of turbines installed in 2007 and 2008.

The 2008 Wind Technologies Market Report is available online at www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/46026.pdf