The retrofit concept, which involved sawing a 37-metre-long blade in half and fitting in a seven-metre insert, transformed a pair of GE 1.5-77 prototypes at Noble Environmental Power’s Clinton project in New York state into 91-metre-diameter machines, expanding each turbine’s swept area by 40%.
“The blade extension program for GE is a great example of the magnitude of technology advancements GE is capable of developing,” says GE renewable energy engineering team leader Mark Johnson.
“Achieving
