One of the blades for the 5.8MW prototype of Siemens Gamesa’s biggest onshore wind turbine platform – now being assembled in Alaiz, in Spain’s Navarra region – makes its way up a steep incline en route to its mountain-top test site.
The machine, which features a 155-metre-diameter rotor, is calculated to have annual energy production (AEP) at a wind speed of eight metres per second (m/s) that is 32% higher than the OEM’s SG4.5-145.
“We often refer to our 5.X platform as a game changer. We do so because it is indeed changing the game in many ways: internally, it is the first wind turbine entirely developed combining the best of our engineering schools and a key piece of our turnaround plan,” said Siemens Gamesa’s onshore CEO Lars Bondo Krogsgaard, referring to its unfolding strategy to improve the financials of the onshore arm of the OEM.
“Externally, it is shaping the industry with power ratings and rotor diameters never seen before, resulting in an unmatched LCOE [levellised cost of energy].
“I can’t help but feeling enormously proud when I see how the first SG5.8-155 is taking shape – this [is] huge development for us, for the industry and the energy transition as a whole.”
The Siemens Gamesa 5.X platform has amassed over 1GW of orders in Europe and the Americas, “making it one of [the OEM’s] fastest selling technologies ever without even installing a single unit”.
The Alaiz test site, which is located on complex terrain at high altitude, sees average wind speeds of 8.3 m/s, high turbulence and temperatures ranging from -5ºC up to 35ºC.
