Siemens plant to help with new turbine
Resource from: Hutchinson News Likes:175
May 25,2015
Siemens Energy unveiled a new product last week at the AWEA Windpower trade show in Orlando that it will partially manufacture in Hutchinson, starting in 2017.
The SWT 2.3-120 is a modification of Siemens' original SWT 2.3-108 wind turbine, allowing higher performance at lower wind speeds.
The nacelle, which houses the rotor shaft and generator, will have a square steel canopy, rather than the current circular or tube-shaped canopy, for the new SWT 2.3-120.
The design offers “more protection” for gears and other components inside the nacelle, said Myca Welch, a spokeswoman for Siemens Wind in Hutchinson, in an email from the Florida convention.
The new shape will have additional space and larger hatches, providing easier access to service main components of the 88-ton, semitrailer-sized machines. A gearbox and yaw system will create increased capacity.
The primary change to the product, however, will be to its rotors, manufactured in Fort Madison, Iowa.
The new 59-meter blades – creating an overall 120-meter or nearly 400-foot rotor – “utilizes Siemens’ robust and flexible ATB (Aeroelastic Tailored Blade) design, to reduce weights and loads through intelligent use of the blade’s flexing capabilities.”
The blade design allows for a larger rotor size without a proportional increase in structural loading, the company notes, decreasing wear and tear on the turbine.
The larger blades also extend the reach of the rotor, sweeping a 23-percent greater area to make the most of available wind.
“… the high-performance 120-meter rotor enables it to achieve enhanced energy production for medium to low wind sites, and offers improved performance at higher altitudes and under a wider range of temperature conditions,” according to a Siemens news release. “At an average wind speed of 7.5 meters per second (nearly 17 miles per hour), the Siemens SWT 2.3-120 yields an increase of nearly 10 percent in annual energy production” over its predecessor.
The Fort Madison factory and Siemens aerodynamic engineering center in Boulder, Colorado, were heavily involved in the development of the new blades, the company stated.
The Hutchinson plant will continue to primarily manufactures 2.3-megawatt nacelles, hubs and generator packages. It has been producing some of the company’s larger 3-megawatt, direct-drive turbines.
“Siemens in Hutchinson will be a mixed model production facility, capable of producing either product at any time,” Welch stated. “We are excited about this new product and we’re preparing now to be ready to start production by 2017.”
The plant is currently employing some 360 full-time workers, as well as some temporary part-time laborers.
“As usual, workforce levels in the future will depend on business volume,” Welch said.
A decision by Siemens to exercise its option to acquire an additional five lots west of its plant, which the Hutchinson City Council approved last week, “will be used for storage and large truck parking,” Welch said.
(Hutchinson News)
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