New onshore turbine models | WindEnergy Hamburg takeaways

Robyn White (0:05)

Welcome back to the Wind Power News Review with me, Robyn White, Senior Reporter at Wind Power Monthly.

Orlando Jenkinson (0:10)

And me, Orlando Jenkinson, Reporter at Wind Power Monthly. We're back with our regular panel of experts for their take on some of the biggest stories from our recent news coverage.

Robyn White (0:19)

This time on the news review, we take a look at the new onshore wind turbine models announced by Vestas, Nordex and Envision. Can these new designs and their large road diameters make a splash in the onshore wind industry?

Orlando Jenkinson (0:30)

Meanwhile, we look back at the recent WindEnergy Hamburg conference in Germany. What were the major trends and talking points from one of the industry's largest commercial gatherings?

Robyn White (0:39)

It's all on the latest news review podcast, our series in addition to our regular episodes exploring the issues in the wind industry today.

Orlando Jenkinson (0:47)

All the views expressed by panellists on the Windpower News Review are their own independent perspectives and do not necessarily reflect the policies or positions of any organisation, employer or affiliated group.

Joining us this week for the News Review, we welcome back our regular panellists, Sorcha Versteeg and Shashi Barla. Sorcha is the Global Commercial Director at Natural Power.

Sorcha Versteeg (1:17)

Hi, lovely to be back.

Orlando Jenkinson (1:19)

Shashi is the founder of Windpower Intelligence firm, iSquared Barla Group.

Shashi Barla (1:23)

Pleasure to be back.

Robyn White (1:24)

Thanks so much for joining us again both. Looking forward to another interesting discussion this time.

Firstly, we've seen a new wave of larger onshore wind turbines launched in recent weeks. Vestas has launched its largest onshore turbine to date with an 182-meter rotor, while Nordex launched an even larger model with 193-meter rotor. Chinese manufacturer Envision also announced its new model design for medium wind speed sites and challenging conditions. So, Sorcha, firstly, why have Vestas and Nordex both launched these new larger capacity onshore wind turbines with larger rotor areas and why is this so significant?

Sorcha Versteeg (2:02)

Yes, very good question. I think the most important point is that these turbines, the redesign of these turbines is to improve the economics of projects and make them more compatible across a wide variety of areas like low and medium wind sites where they'll capture more energy and can be deployed across a range of operating conditions.

A good example is the Vestas V182 7.2 MW turbine. Its rated capacity actually is staying the same as the existing V172 7.2 MW, but the rotor, as we know, is 10 meters larger. So Vestas here isn't focusing on adding capacity, rather, they're increasing the sweep area to extract more energy at lower wind speeds and thereby to achieve a higher capacity factor. Vestas has been saying that the new machine can get up to an additional 6% annual production compared to the V172, depending on the site, while reducing the LCOE. They also say the larger rotor ratio can improve the timing and value of generation, so not only the overall volume. Nordex is also looking at a similar strategy with their even larger ratio of rotor capacity with their N193, which has a max capacity of 7.3 MW.

Nordex says that it can produce an additional 14% annually than the N155 6 MW turbine under low to medium wind conditions. They're also offering a different power configuration, which can align to specific country permitting and grid requirements. Like in Germany, the initial machine will offer a maximum of 6.6 MW. That shows that the turbines are more flexible and can be optimized without necessarily operating at the max possible rating. That's significant for developers and investors because many projects are now being really constrained by factors other than basic availability of the turbine technology.

We know land is constrained, planning is increasingly difficult, grid connections are scarce, and gaining consent for additional turbines can take many years. So a larger rotor could allow a developer to increase total output from an already consented or grid constrained project without proportionately increasing turbine numbers or contracted connection capacity. So it creates the possibility of getting more value for limited site envelope. But there is still questions over the commercial case, and this needs to be proven site by site because a larger sweep area may improve the gross energy production, but it can introduce new additional challenges such as transport, foundations, redesign, wake, noise, visual and construction and maintenance considerations. So, developers and investors need to be asking not only how much more energy will it produce, but what's the risk-adjusted improvement in the lifetime of the project after permitting transport, etc. costs are considered. So, developers now need to not only be asking how much more energy can it produce, but what is the risk-adjusted improvement in the lifetime of the vehicle after permitting transport construction and operating costs are considered.