Today, Siemens announced the release of a new 3.6-megawatt (MW) wind turbine
featuring a 120
meter rotor diameter. The SWT-3.6-120 turbine is based on
the proven technology of the SWT-3.6-107 – the world’s most popular offshore
wind turbine. The new machine will be equipped with 58.5 meter long rotor
blades. The turbine has a swept area of 11,300 square meters,
which is equivalent to nearly two football
fields.
“We anticipate that our
new SWT-3.6-120 wind turbine will generate roughly ten 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.
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
megawatts.
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 EUR19 billion in fiscal 2008, roughly a quarter of
the company’s total revenues. Today, Siemens is the world’s leading supplier of
environmentally friendly technology.