Siemens has announced the release of a new 3.6 MW wind turbine featuring a 120 m rotor diameter. The SWT-3.6-120 turbine is based on the technology of the SWT-3.6-107 – the world’s most popular offshore wind turbine. The new machine will be equipped with rotor blades 58.5 m long. The turbine has a swept area of 11,300 sq m, which is equivalent to nearly two football fields.
“We anticipate that our new SWT-3.6-120 wind turbine will generate roughly 10 per cent more electricity at a typical offshore site compared to our SWT-3.6-107,” said Andreas Nauen, CEO of the Siemens Wind Power Business unit.
“With this new wind turbine we will continue to maintain our technology leadership in offshore wind power. We have already seen a lot of interest from the market in this new product.”
The SWT-3.6-120 extends the performance of the proven Siemens 3.6 MW turbine type, which is already established as the preferred offshore turbine type in the multi-megawatt class. Siemens has installed 100 of its 3.6 MW wind turbines and has another 700 turbines on order.
Dong Energy orders
Earlier this year Dong Energy signed orders for more than 450 SWT-3.6-120 machines. 175 of these new wind turbines will be installed in the first phase of the British London Array project, which will ultimately be the world’s first offshore wind farm on a gigawatt-scale.
Furthermore, 51 SWT-3.6-120 wind turbines will be installed at the Walney II Offshore Wind Farm, also in the U.K. These orders from Dong Energy are part of the world’s largest wind power agreement for the supply of up to 500 offshore wind turbines, which was signed earlier this year. The wind turbines to be delivered under the supply agreement will have a total capacity of up to 1,800 MW.
The first two prototypes of the SWT 3.6-120 will be used by Dong Energy at Avedøre in Copenhagen, and installed in time for the COP 15 / UN World Climate Summit in Copenhagen. The Hvidovre Vindmøllelaug, a group of local investors, is contributing to this project.
Wind turbines are an important component of the Siemens environmental portfolio, which earned the company revenues of nearly 19 billion euros ($28 billion) in fiscal 2008, roughly a quarter of the company’s total revenues.
