Electronics and electrical engineering company Siemens launched its new model SWT-3.3-130 wind turbine at the 2014 WINDaba, stating that the first of these units would be available in early 2017.
This wind power unit, of which the rotor would measure 130 m in diameter, would extract the maximum energy yield from low to moderate wind velocities to deliver 3.3 MW of power.
As a result of its reworked technology and its 130 m rotor, this unit exceeded the yearly energy yield of the previous Siemens D3-series wind turbines by about 17% to 20%, Siemens said.
Siemens Southern and Eastern Africa wind and renewables power VP Tom Pedersen indicated that the group had injected more than five years of experience gained from its D3 platform into the new SWT-3.3-130 turbine, which enabled engineers to further improve the unit’s core components.
In the new turbine, the direct-drive permanent-magnet generator (PMG) would operate with even stronger permanent magnets to enhance output and the designs of the nacelle bedplate yaw drive and other components important to unit statics had been strengthened to accommodate the new 130-m-diameter rotor.
The SWT-3.3-130 also used B63 blades measuring 63 m in length. These aero-elastically tailored blades would limit the static loading of the nacelle and tower, particularly under turbulent wind conditions, as the blade ends would act to cushion and absorb high wind pressure and gusts, Siemens explained.
Additional innovations featured in the new turbine included a newly designed cooling system that had now been integrated into the nacelle to ensure optimum cooling of the generator and other electrical components.