Siemens launches its first direct drive turbine

Apr 26, 2010 - James Quilter - Windpower Monthly

GERMANY: Siemens has launched its new direct drive turbine, the SWT-3.0-101, at the European Wind Energy Conference.

The Siemens SWT-3.0-101 turbine

The new turbine, which has a 3MW capacity, will principally be available for onshore wind farms. Siemens claims it has a lower weight and half the parts of one of its 2.3MW products.

It uses a gearless drive train design with a permanent magnet generator.

Siemens has been testing the turbine since last year at a location near its Danish headquarters in Brande. The company claims that other than the nacelle all of the main components - blades, rotor hub, tower and controller - are developed from existing products.

The use of fewer components in the machines means the nacelle will be 6.8m by 4.2m and can be transported using standard vehicles.

Henrik Stiesdal, CTO of the Siemens Wind Power Business Unit said: "Our new SWT-3.0-101 will offer 25 percent more power than our present 2,3-MW-machine, but with a lower weight and only half the parts.

"Our main target for the new machine was to reduce complexity in order to increase reliability and profitability. We are confident that our new Direct Drive wind turbine is a reliable investment in the future of power generation."