Global engineering giant GE has unveiled its most powerful onshore wind turbine yet, a 6MW (6.0-164) version of its Cypress line of turbines, which promises to deliver an 11 per cent increase in annual energy production over the previously top-of-the-range 5.3MW model.
GE Renewable Energy announced the unveiling of the new turbine on Monday, which like its predecessors in the Cypress platform features a proprietary two-piece blade that is said to improve logistics and drive down costs of installation and maintenance.
Launched in 2017, GE’s Cypress onshore wind platform has grown from an initial rating of 4.8MW through to the latest 6MW – which the company says will start to be deployed in the field by 2022.
“The Cypress platform is already providing our customers the ability to lower the cost of onshore wind and gain added flexibility in siting turbines. This latest product in the platform will help them drive additional growth of clean, renewable wind power across Europe and beyond,” said the CEO of GE Onshore Wind Europe, Peter Wells.
In Australia, the 224MW Bango wind farm in the New South Wales Southern Tablelands was last year reported to be the first in the world to use General Electric’s Cypress 5.3MW turbines, which at that time ranked among the largest of their kind in production.
GE has also recently begun testing of its latest offshore wind turbine prototype, an optimised version of its Haliade-X design that can deliver a massive 13MW of output. As RenewEconomy reported here, the new Haliade-X is the largest turbine GE has ever produced, standing 248 metres tall, with 107 metre long blades.
GE’s new Cypress 6MW turbine won’t be the most powerful in the world, but it will be up there among them. Vestas is currently testing a prototype of its own V162-6.0MW in Denmark, while Germany’s Enercon has produced a 7.5MW turbine, which according to reports was a very specialised and site-specific product, and is no longer offered for sale.
GE says the Cypress onshore platform covers multiple wind classes enabling significant annual energy production improvements, increased efficiency in service ability, improved logistics and siting potential, and ultimately delivers more value for customers.
“The new model is designed with services in mind, facilitating up-tower repairs and featuring condition-based predictive services that will improve return-to-service and uptime, while lowering lifecycle costs,” the company said.
