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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.
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
for example, loads scale with diameter^5 for constant rpm. "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
Vestas may be thinking making it in Britain.
Interesting foundation.
"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
"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
:-)
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
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