GE Renewable Energy Secures First Order For Its Largest Onshore Turbine

GE Renewable Energy announced Tuesday that it had secured its first order for its Cypress platform of segmented-blade wind turbines, the company’s largest onshore wind turbines in the world at a maximum capacity of 5.3 megawatts (MW).

GE Renewable Energy unveiled its new platform of onshore wind turbines in September of 2017, and a year later expanded its line of turbines — now under the new Cypress moniker — to include a 5.3 MW turbine, one of the world’s largest onshore wind turbines. Last month, GE announced that it had successfully installed and begun operations of the Cypress 5.3 MW prototype, at Wieringermeer, in the Netherlands.

The Cypress turbine platform not only boasts the largest onshore wind capacity of any turbine currently available, but it is also innovative in its very design. Specifically, the turbine’s blades are segmented, made up of two pieces, enabling the blades to be manufactured at even longer lengths and improving the logistics of transport and construction, making the turbine available at even more wind sites.

“We’re delighted with the progress our team has been able to make in bringing our innovative, high-tech turbine to market on an accelerated schedule,” said Jérôme Pécresse, CEO of GE Renewable Energy, speaking last month. “We are confident that Cypress, with its two-piece blade design, will be a game changer for the industry. We’re hearing equal enthusiasm from our customers across the globe, who tell us they appreciate the potential of Cypress to help them both lower the cost of onshore wind and gain added flexibility in siting turbines.”

Fast-forward to Tuesday, then, and GE Renewable Energy — announcing its news at the 2019 WindEurope Conference & Exhibition in Bilbao, Spain — revealed that it had been selected by full-service wind energy provider Prowind GmbH to provide three Cypress units with a rated capacity of 4.8 MW for the Elfershausen onshore wind project in Germany, marking the first order for the Cypress platform.

Specifically, the three wind turbines will measure in with a rotor diameter of 158m and hub heights of up to 150 and 161 meters, while the split blades will be produced by LM Wind Power in Spain and the blade tips will be installed on site. The project is currently scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. The segmented blades will be specifically valuable in this instance, as the two-piece blade design will help reduce transportation costs and the ease of maneuvering through the forest of Bavaria.

“We are proud to share this milestone on our new Cypress platform with Prowind, built on a shared commitment to innovation, quality performance, partnership and trust,” said Peter Wells, Onshore Wind CEO for Europe and SSA at GE Renewable Energy. “It’s our first commercial order for Cypress, with multiple commitments in queue to follow, and a future of technology evolution and leadership ahead of us. Wind continues to compete and win, it’s an exciting time, and we look forward to the ongoing journey.”

“The Cypress platform is a great fit for the unique characteristics of the Elfershausen project, thanks to the flexibility it offers in the transportation and the installation of its components and blades,” added Johannes Busmann CEO, founder and Owner of Prowind. “We are happy to be the first ones to install a Cypress with GE and we are excited about this technology and where it can take us in our path towards driving down the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) together.”