Size Does Matter — More Massive Offshore Wind Turbines for Europe

December 3rd, 2011 by Charis Michelsen

Scotland and 2B Energy aren’t the only ones in Europe making waves with massive off-shore wind turbines – electronics giant Siemens introduced its new SWT-6.0 turbine this week. The SWT-6.0 is a larger version of Siemens’ 6MW wind turbine with a diameter just shy of 400 feet and using a magnet-driven generator.

Most wind turbines currently in use are land-based, which are relatively easy to set up and maintain. However, since wind inland is relatively unpredictable, they usually generate no more than 2MW of power.

Take It Offshore

Ocean breezes are another matter; wind offshore is often strong and steady, which on the surface seems like a pretty good bet. The problems come while installing and maintaining large pieces of machinery in the hostile environment offshore. Siemens’ solution is use of a direct drive generator in order to reduce the number of parts (fewer things to break!) and lighter materials (easier to install).

Siemens cited one further advantage to having fewer parts – more room for the technicians who have to go out and maintain the turbine:

“The nacelle, or housing behind the rotor and blades, is particularly spacious and gives technicians easy access to important components.”

Siemens hopes to have up to 50 of its new turbines installed off the shores of Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and the U.K. over the next two years.

Source: CNET | Image: Wikimedia Commons

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Tags: Europe

About the Author

Charis Michelsen spent 7 years living in Germany and Japan, studying both languages extensively, doing translation and education with companies like Bosch, Nissan, Fuji Heavy, and others. Charis has a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and currently lives in Chicago, Illinois. She also believes that Janeway was the best Star Trek Captain.

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Jan

“However, since wind inland is relatively unpredictable, they usually generate no more than 2MW of power.”

A lot of ignorance in one sentence. Some corrections:

1) Wind power can be predicted very well.
2) The sizing of a wind turbine has nothing to with the predictability of the wind resource.
3) In Germany new wind turbines mostly have a rated power of 3 MW, with a tendency towards even larger wind turbines.
The US is lagging behind a bit.
4) The size, and thus the rated power, of wind turbines on land are limited by regulations and the transportability of components.
5) At sea the foundations are responsible for a large part of the overall investment costs. The costs of the foundations are almost independent on the wind turbine size. At sea it is therefore cheaper to build fewer, but bigger wind turbines.
BlueRock

Note: for those who cite David MacKay’s ‘Sustainable Energy – Without The Hot Air’ which argues that renewables cannot power the UK, his projections rely on 3 MW turbines.

More at http://thisbluerock.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/david-mackays-sustainable-energy-without-the-hot-air-perhaps-a-little-hot-air-2/