Siemens Gamesa launched the world’s largest offshore wind turbine with the largest stand-alone capacity, surpassing its competitor GE and regaining the dominance of offshore wind power. The company released a new SG14-222DD offshore direct-drive wind turbine on May 19th. The capacity of the wind turbine will reach 14MW (1MW = 1000KW), and the capacity can be further increased to 15MW by using Siemens Gamesa Power Boost technology. The model is planned to complete the prototype in 2021 and be launched in 2024.
The capacity of a single unit becomes larger, which means that the diameter of the fan is also larger. The parameters disclosed by Siemens Gamesa show that the impeller of the new model has a diameter of up to 222 meters and is equipped with ultra-long 108-meter blades. Its sweep area can reach 39,000 square meters, which is approximately equal to 5.5 standard football fields. Compared with the company’s previous generation of the largest offshore wind turbine brother product SG11.0-200DD, the huge sweep area of the new model can increase the annual power generation by 25%. Another feature of this new “sea giant” is the light weight of the cabin, only 500 tons. The light-weight nacelle not only reduces raw materials and facilitates transportation, but also helps reduce the burden on the tower and infrastructure. A SG14-222DD wind turbine with a capacity of 14 MW can provide electricity to approximately 18,000 European households each year.
In June 2016, the Siemens Wind Power Division merged with the Spanish wind turbine manufacturer Gamesa to form the new Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy Company. At that time, this transaction directly rearranged the global wind power industry. The two are highly complementary in major markets and product portfolios. Siemens is a rare rival in offshore wind power, while Gamesa is longer than onshore wind power.
According to recent data released by the international energy consulting agency Wood Mackenzie, in 2019, Vestas, Denmark, Gamesa, and General Electric ( GE) is the top three wind turbine supplier in the world.
The reason why offshore wind turbines are getting larger and larger is that as the capacity of a single unit increases, the number of wind turbines required in the wind farm (especially in high wind speed areas) can be reduced Therefore, the operation and maintenance cost can be reduced. Siemens Gamesa launched SG14-222DD, which will further consolidate the three-legged momentum of offshore wind power giants. Previously, GE ’s Haliade-X 12 MW was the world ’s largest offshore wind turbine. GE announced in March 2018 that it will develop a Haliade-X 12 MW offshore direct-drive generator set. A prototype of this model will send its first power in Rotterdam, the Netherlands in November 2019. Internationally, the development of 10MW offshore wind turbines has already started, and there are 201In 3 years, Vestas and Japanese industrial giant Mitsubishi Heavy Industries set up a joint venture MHI Vestas Offshore Wind to fight against Siemens in the offshore field. In September 2018, MHI Vestas released V164-10.0MW, the first 10MW wind turbine in the history of global wind power, and the wind power industry entered the era of high power.
At present, Siemens Gamesa has installed more than 1,000 offshore direct-drive wind turbines worldwide, covering the world ’s major offshore wind power markets, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium and Taiwan, China, etc. In addition, Siemens Gamesa has received confirmation orders for another 1,000 offshore direct-drive wind turbines, which are planned to be installed in the above markets and emerging offshore wind power markets such as the United States and France.