The new wind turbine is specifically designed to deliver high efficiency and cost effective power generation even at low wind speeds, therefore increasing the size of the market and making wind farm projects even more financially competitive than they are today.
The S8X, scheduled for launch in 2012, is designed specifically for the Indian wind energy market where the majority of potential lies in medium-to-low wind farm sites. This turbine is designed with advanced rotors, with diameters of 86.5 and 89 meters, and a tower height of 90 meters, which will bring improvements in energy yields of between 15 to 20 percent over the current S82 – 1.5 MW offering in low wind conditions.
Additionally, the S8X is designed specifically to operate in high temperatures, and to meet the current and future grid requirements in India.
This wind turbine is an evolution of the proven S82 – 1.5 MW platform, with approximately 2,400 MW in installations consistently delivering 97 percent plus availability (uptime). The new design also incorporates several key features from the S9X suite of wind turbines, helping to achieve higher reliability, improved power output, higher safety and improved lightening protection.
Like the S9X, the new turbine offers an improved pitch and yaw system, hub assembly, main frame and other key components, ensuring easier maintenance, greater reliability and higher uptime. Speaking on the subject, Mr. John O’Halloran, President, Technology – Suzlon Energy Limited, said: “This marks an extremely important step forward in our product strategy. The S8X builds on our extensive operating experience with our highly successful S82 – 1.5 MW fleet in some of the most challenging environments in the world. The development program drew extensively on feedback from our key customer groups – primarily PSUs and IPPs in India – to create a product that meets their current and future needs, and provides consistently improving returns on investment.
“The S8X features advanced blade designs and highly efficient control systems to optimize loads and performance – delivering higher reliability, significantly improved energy output and ultimately, increased financial performance for our customers.
These wind turbines will be built to the latest guidelines issued by certification agencies, with even more advanced and stringent testing standards than previous guidelines.”
“As the Indian wind energy market continues to grow at over 40 percent per year, we believe the S8X will be a game changer in the high-growth 1.5 MW segment –delivering higher reliability, uptime, energy production and ultimately greatly improved returns on investment to customers over its lifecycle.”
The Suzlon Group is ranked as the world’s fifth largest wind turbine supplier, in terms of cumulative installed capacity, at the end of 2010. The company’s global spread extends across Asia, Australia, Europe, Africa and North and South America with over 18,000 MW of wind energy capacity installed in 28 countries, operations in 32 countries, a workforce of over 13,000. The Group offers one of the most comprehensive product portfolios – ranging from sub-megawatt on-shore wind turbines at 600 Kilowatts (KW), to the world’s largest commercial 6.15 MW offshore turbine – built on a vertically integrated, low-cost, manufacturing base. The Group – headquartered at Suzlon One Earth in Pune, India – comprises Suzlon Energy Limited and its subsidiaries, including REpower Systems SE.
Wind class: The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) defines three wind classes for wind turbines based on annual average wind speed, Class I / high wind – 10 m/s; Class II / medium wind – 8.5 m/s; and Class III / low wind – 7.5 m/s.
By José Santamarta, www.suzlon.com
