Envision’s new Innovation Center in Boulder will focus on in-house blade design and allow the company to provide complete blade engineering.

Envision Energy, a supplier of smart energy solutions, has announced the establishment of its Global Blade Innovation Center in Boulder, Colorado. This marks another significant investment in R&D by Envision in the United States.

“Envision’s R&D centers are cultivating talent and facilitating collaboration with the best professionals in the world,” said Felix Zhang, Envision Energy’s Executive Director. “This new center in Boulder will focus on blade design, which will drive innovation and enhance our capabilities significantly. We believe our effort here will bring tremendous value to our clients and even the whole industry.”

Kevin Standish, a recognized leader in turbine blade design in the wind energy industry, will lead this operation. Prior to joining Envision, Kevin has held the position of Chief Engineer of Blades at Siemens Wind in the U.S.

“As all energy capture begins with the blade of the wind turbine, Envision has placed special emphasis on this area of research. Bringing blade design capability in-house will enable Envision to leverage a complete systems’ engineering approach,” said Standish. “The sustained trend in the wind industry toward increasing larger turbine rotor sizes and power ratings demands that turbine designers make simultaneous advances in aerodynamics, loads, controls, acoustics, structure, materials, and manufacturing excellence. Currently, our priority is to hire the best engineers from wind, aerospace and other high-tech industries to build up a top-notch team of engineering competence and capability here in Boulder.”

Together with the company’s Global Digital Innovation Lab in Silicon Valley and its Digital Energy Research Center in Houston, Envision Energy is attracting top talent from around the globe as it ramps up a world-class research team and continues the journey of innovation towards a sustainable future.

Envision Energy
www.envision-energy.com

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The new award-winning Siemens model delivers nearly 10% more energy production than its predecessor under offshore wind conditions, while retaining the same proven reliability. The new 7-MW offshore wind turbine has been developed by Siemens as an evolution of the company’s flagship offshore wind turbine, the SWT-6.0-154, which has already set new industry standards in terms of gearless turbine design.

The certification team at DNV GL, along with the D7 Platform team at Siemens. The thorough certification process of the SWT-7.0-154 confirmed full compliance with IEC-61400-22 standard, assuring the safety and reliability of pioneering new offshore turbine.

As demand for offshore turbines to deliver ever higher power output to reduce the levelized cost of energy continues to increase, timelines to develop optimized types become increasingly tight.

To meet industry and customer expectations, it was crucial for Siemens Wind Power that the newly developed SWT-7.0-154 is IEC Type Certified and reached the market on time. DNV GL’s optimised project management provided the Type Certification ahead of schedule, giving Siemens Wind Power a strong basis for the further development of the Large Direct Drive Turbines.

To confirm ultimate operational safety and reliability, DNV GL’s expert understanding of the turbine’s advanced technical specifications was crucial. Building on experiences from the previous certification process of the 6-MW offshore wind turbine SWT-6.0-154 and the recent SWT-7.0-154 prototype certification both sides have continued to work closely together on this project.

“Conscious of the current state of the industry it was vital we deliver this project on schedule. We understand our customers’ time pressures and the demand to continuously bring the latest turbine innovations to the market,” saidSteffen Haupt, Global Head of Business Development and Sales, Renewables Certification at DNV GL. “This is why optimized project management combined with in-depth technical expertise was vital for our work with Siemens, allowing the company to confidently demonstrate the safety and reliability of their ground-breaking new 7-MW turbine.”

Vicente Garcia, Portfolio Manager Offshore Certification at Siemens Wind Power added: “At Siemens Wind Power we felt it was critical to rely on our long-lasting partnership with DNV GL as certification body in this upgrade of our D7 platform, as we were confident in their ability to help us reduce the final time to market. What’s more, the extensive collaboration during the initial scoping phase was a key factor for the final outcome of delivering the project to a successful result by obtaining Type Certificate ahead of schedule and provides a strong basis for the further development of the Large Direct Drive Turbines. I want to express my special thanks to both Project Managers and teams at DNVGL and SWP: Mersudin Bajric, Principal Project Manager Type Certification (DNV GL), and Esti Utami Povlsen, certification project manager (SWP), for their level of commitment and hard work.”

Moving forward, DNV GL has also been contracted to work with Siemens on the upgrade of the 7-MW, including the powerboost feature to increase the power output.

DNV GL
www.dnvgl.com

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A number of recent onshore wind deals highlight continued global expansion of GE Renewable Energy.

GE Renewable Energy has announced that it secured 1.4-GW of firm and unconditional wind turbine supply orders in the month of December. The agreements call for GE’s wind technology to supply more than 20 new wind projects across seven different countries.

Approximately half of the planned 1.4 GW is scheduled to be installed outside the United States, in countries including Brazil, India, France, Germany, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

“We continue to focus on driving global growth for our business, and the international scope of these deals reflects that effort,” said Anne McEntee, president and CEO of GE’s onshore wind business. “We are pleased to see customers adopting our newest hardware and software turbine technologies, and we have built a strong backlog heading into 2016.”

In the U.S., Lincoln Clean Energy and Starwood have selected GE’s new 2.3-116 turbines for the Horse Creek wind farm, a 230-MW project in northern Texas. In addition to utilizing GE’s new 2-MW turbine platform, the site has also established a full services agreement and will benefit from GE’s Digital Wind Farm capabilities.

In Europe, GE signed deals in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom last month. The company also recently announced its largest French onshore wind deal to date with Velocita Energies for two wind farms in the Franche-Comté region.

In Turkey, GE will supply turbines for Guris Insaat’s 85 MW extension of the Dinar wind farm in Afyon, as well as for Dost Enerji’s 70-MW Bergres wind farm in Izmir, on the Aegean coast.

The flurry of deal activity follows the recent launch of GE Renewable Energy, a new business unit the company introduced in November after completing its acquisition of Alstom’s renewable energy group. The acquisition expanded GE’s European wind turbine installed base by approximately 50% and grew its global wind footprint to more than 30,000 turbines worldwide.

GE Renewable Energy
https://renewables.gepower.com

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