turbines

Siemens was awarded an order for the delivery, installation and commissioning of 12 direct drive wind turbines at the Les Gourlous wind farm in France. The SWT- 3.2-113 turbines for the wind farm in the Champagne-Ardennes region in France will have a total capacity of 38.4 MW. Siemens will be providing long-term service for the new project within a 20-year service and maintenance agreement. The new project is scheduled for commissioning in November 2016.

Vestas received an order for 20 V110-2.0 MW turbines for a wind power plant in Gujarat State, India. The order for the Khambaliya project is an extension of an existing contract with Powerica Ltd., a power solutions provider in India. Among the 40 MW for this project, 12 MW constitutes an upgrade from a part of a previous order for turbines with the V100 platform, and the remaining 28 MW is newly added. The order includes the supply, installation and commissioning of the turbines, which is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2016.

Minnesota Power completed commissioning the latest phase of its Bison Wind Energy Center. The 205-MW expansion makes it the largest wind farm in North Dakota. All 64 turbines within the 35-square-mile boundaries of Bison 4 are now generating renewable energy, which is delivered to the company's customers via a 465-mile direct current transmission line linking Center, N.D., and Duluth, Minn. In total, the nearly 500 MW produced by Bison's 165 turbines rank it as North Dakota's largest wind farm in terms of electric generating capacity. 

ABB was awarded a contract by Atlantis Resources Limited to provide the onshore grid connection for Phase I of the MeyGen tidal stream project in Scotland's Pentland Firth. The first 6-MW demonstration phase of the UK's first large-scale tidal array scheme will see four submerged turbines installed in the Inner Pentland Firth just north of Caithness, with first power expected to be delivered by 2016. ABB is responsible for the onshore power conversion and grid connection systems to feed the electricity into the local distribution grid.

SheerWind announced field tests of multiple turbines used in a row or series has even greater electrical power output. The INVELOX system, a new concept in wind power generation, is a large funnel that captures, concentrates, and accelerates wind before delivering it to turbines located at ground level. By placing 2 turbines in a series in an INVELOX system, power showed an increase of 1.7X when compared to single turbine.

ABB introduced a new grid feeding monitoring relay for wind applications, as part of the AWEA Windpower 2014 conference and exhibition. The new low-voltage grid feeding monitoring relay CM-UFD.M33, also known as the Grid Tie Relay, is a component that protects wind turbines from unstable grid activity or faults by disconnecting the electric energy source from the grid. The relay monitors voltage and frequency in single and three phase grids and trips the coupling switch when electrical values are not within set parameters.

EDF Renewable Energy announced a 20-year PPA with Southern California Edison (SCE), contracted through the California Renewable Auction Mechanism (RAM) competitive procurement program, for 19.8 MW wind project. The Patterson Pass Wind Project is a repowering effort whereby older technology is upgraded allowing for increased generation of clean energy with fewer wind turbines. Approximately 300 Nordtank and Bonus 65kW turbines, originally installed in 1985, will be removed as part of the development process.

GE was awarded a contract with its consortium partner, Downer EDI Limited to supply, build and maintain 67 turbines at the $350 million Boco Rock wind farm in New South Wales, Australia. In addition to supplying and commissioning the wind turbine generators, GE will also provide $50 million worth of maintenance services over 10 years. The wind farm will be located outside of Nimmitabel, in the New South Wales Snowy Mountains region, and is permitted for potential future expansion to 121 turbines.