Engineering and technology giant GE unveiled its latest wind turbine technology, the 1.6-100, at the Windpower 2011 Conference in California this week.

The 100 m blade turbine, which is designed for lower wind locations, is GE’s most efficient wind turbine yet. According to the company, the 1.6-100 can deliver IEC Type Class II performance in a Type Class III (low wind) environment.

“This latest evolution of our wind turbine technology is designed to meet the growing requirements of our customers for greater efficiency, reliability and output from a megawatt-class wind turbine,” says Victor Abate of GE Power & Water. “By increasing the rotor diameter on the 1.6, our technology now offers customers the highest capacity factor in its class.”

The company already has orders for 393 of the new turbines for project in the US and Brazil. Invenergy has ordered 233 turbines for three projects in mid-west USA totalling 373 MW, while three Brazilian companies – Sevent Civilsan, Bioenergy and Oleoplan – have ordered 106, 36 and 18 turbines respectively.

GE has also delivered the first of 338 of its 2.5-100 turbines to the Shepherds Flat wind development in Oregon. With over 200 turbines to be delivered by the end of the year, the wind farm will have a capacity of 845 MW when complete – enough to power 235,000 households.

The $2 billion Shepherds Flat project is owned by developer Caithness Energy, but is being supported by GE Energy Financial Services, Google and subsidiaries of ITOCHU Corporation and Sumitomo Corporation.

Meanwhile, rival Danish turbine manufacturer Vestas has received an order from Enel Green Power North America for 111 of its V90-1.8 MW turbines for the Caney River wind-energy project in Elk County, Kansas.

The blades and towers for the 200 MW order will be manufactured at Vestas’ Colorado-based factories, which will also assemble the nacelles and hubs.

Vestas has also received orders for its 2 MW platform turbines – 36 for the Turkish company Aksu Temiz Enerji Elektrik Üretim Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim ?irketi for a 72 MW installation in Kayseri and 40 for Galvao Energia for a 80 MW development in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.

For further information:
www.ge.com
www.vestas.com

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