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Wednesday Open Thread | 67 comments (67 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
weeeeeeeeee (4.00 / 3)

Vestas Chief Executive Engel Unveils New 7-Megawatt Offshore Wind Turbine

Vestas Wind Systems A/S today unveiled a new 7-megawatt wind turbine aimed at helping the Danish company vie with Siemens AG (SIE) of Germany for the biggest share of the offshore wind power market.

The new V164 machine is the first in Vestas's history specifically designed for offshore wind, Chief Executive Officer Ditlev Engel said in London. The turbine has more than twice the capacity of the V90 and V112 models currently made for offshore use by the Randers, Denmark-based company.

Video at Vestas's presentation showed the blades will sweep an area bigger than Wembley Stadium. The turbines will be taller than the London office tower known as the Gherkin.

"This is a product that will set new standards in offshore wind and the energy industry," Engel said. "The tower, the blades are going to be so huge that it will need a completely new manufacturing facility in a coastal location." He didn't say in which country that might be built.

Vestas and Munich-based Siemens are working to win supremacy in the offshore wind market. Of the 3,045 megawatts of installed sea-based wind capacity in Europe by the end of last year, 1,391 megawatts are from Vestas machines while Siemens has 1,357 megawatts, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance data.

The corporate PR can be found here

Wind power

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Wed Mar 30th, 2011 at 11:22:48 AM EST
Re: weeeeeeeeee (none / 0)
Huh. At 164 meters, I guess 7 MW is only the initial rating, and they'll go for 10 MW+ later....

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Wed Mar 30th, 2011 at 12:45:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
the 12MWp turbine? (none / 0)
Mm. If Enercon are getting 7MW+ from 126 metres, then 164m could give 7x(164/126)^2 = 11.8 MW+ peak capacity. Is that right?
by LondonAnalytics (Andrew Smith) on Wed Mar 30th, 2011 at 03:08:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: the 12MWp turbine? (4.00 / 2)
No, you deal with swept area (the blade circle), plus a host of other rating and efficiency factors. Then factor in your design wind, where you think the turbine is most likely to be placed.

for example, loads scale with diameter^5 for constant rpm.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Wed Mar 30th, 2011 at 03:54:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: the 12MWp turbine? (none / 0)
So, you don't think it could be uprated in the future?

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Wed Mar 30th, 2011 at 04:15:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: the 12MWp turbine? (4.00 / 4)
Au contraire, it will be uprated in the future. I was just responding to londonanalytics back of the envelope. Uprating even involves fatigue life for types of steel, so i was only commenting about the complexity of the uprating. You can bet this will be uprated, but not before all manner of prototype and operational data is analyzed.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
by Crazy Horse on Wed Mar 30th, 2011 at 04:42:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: the 12MWp turbine? (4.00 / 4)
Ah, I wondered if it might be more complicated than a crude square-law thing. Thank you - I really value the quality of insight here.
by LondonAnalytics (Andrew Smith) on Wed Mar 30th, 2011 at 04:44:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: weeeeeeeeee (4.00 / 2)

Vestas may be thinking making it in Britain.

Interesting foundation.



"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Wed Mar 30th, 2011 at 12:49:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: weeeeeeeeee (4.00 / 4)

"We actually kept all options open from the start, running two separate parallel R&D development tracks; One focusing on direct drive and one on a geared solution. It soon became clear that if we wanted to meet the customers' expectations about lowest possible cost of energy and high business case certainty we needed a perfect combination of innovation and proven technology and so the choice could only be to go for a medium-speed drive-train solution," says Finn Strøm Madsen, President of Vestas Technology R&D on this particular design choice and concludes: "Offshore wind customers do not want new and untested solutions. They want reliability and business case certainty - and that is what the V164-7.0 MW gives them."
....
Construction of the first V164-7.0 MW prototypes is expected in Q4 2012. Serial production is set to begin in Q1 2015 provided a firm order backlog is in place to justify the substantial investment needed to pave the way for the V164-7.0 MW.

As had been rumored, they're backing down from the novel (and controversial)  four-stage gearbox of the just now in production V112.  They are now following the path of AREVA Multibrid, using some gear stages to reduce generator cost, weight and complexity when compared with direct drive (Siemens).

Notice that they are giving themselves a short but workable amount of time to use testing results from 2013 and onward before they fix the 1st gen serial production. (Too short time to serial production has been an historical problem within the industry, worsened in China.)

I don't know yet if they continue to use carbon in the spars, and permanent magnets in the generator, as in the V112.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Wed Mar 30th, 2011 at 01:03:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: weeeeeeeeee (none / 1)
Oh dear, someone's been playing with Maya again without looking at the manual.

You can't be me, I'm taken
by Sven Triloqvist on Wed Mar 30th, 2011 at 02:22:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: weeeeeeeeee (none / 0)
"Playing With Maya" would be a good name for a New Age/Techno fusion band.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Wed Mar 30th, 2011 at 02:44:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: weeeeeeeeee (none / 0)
"Playing with Maija" would be a good name for a Finnish heavy kantele band.

You can't be me, I'm taken
by Sven Triloqvist on Wed Mar 30th, 2011 at 02:55:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: weeeeeeeeee (none / 0)
BTW did you take a gander at gephi.org?

You can't be me, I'm taken
by Sven Triloqvist on Wed Mar 30th, 2011 at 02:56:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: weeeeeeeeee (none / 0)
I am now.

:-)

With all that's going on in my life I shoved it to the back-burner.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Wed Mar 30th, 2011 at 03:12:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: weeeeeeeeee (none / 1)
Leading no doubt to endless interviews with clueless music Journos asking which one of you is Maya.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Mar 30th, 2011 at 03:05:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: weeeeeeeeee (none / 0)
"We all are."
by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Wed Mar 30th, 2011 at 06:52:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Wednesday Open Thread | 67 comments (67 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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