This year, Vestas latest offshore product offering – the V164-7.0 MW turbine was awarded by independent judges as the "Most Innovative Power Technology of the Year" in the 2011 Asian Power Awards held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 28 September 2011. Last year the V112-3.0 MW won the Gold Award in the same category.
Dubbed as the “Power Industry’s Oscar night”, the Asian Power Awards were launched in 2005 to serve as a platform for the recognition of key power industry players in Asia whose efforts have stood out over the years. The independent judges who came from various power industries looked for the ‘best-of-the-best’ practices in Asia’s power generation and power supply industries and organizations. Their role was to identify power projects, technologies, services and people that are significantly enhancing the power sector in Asia.
The V164–7.0 MW offshore wind turbine which was launched on 30 March 2011 in London, took into the consideration of customers’ needs and the features of the next generation offshore turbine to ensure alignment in the development process – resulting in a match between turbine specifics and customer business cases. Construction of the first V164-7.0 MW prototypes is expected in Q4 2012. Serial production is set to begin in Q1 2015 provided a firm order backlog is in place to justify the substantial investment needed to pave the way for the V164-7.0 MW.
“Having pioneered the offshore wind energy industry, Vestas has over the years gained extensive experience and knowledge which we continuously use actively in our research and development activities. Vestas works intensively to ensure that lessons learned are combined with new and innovative solutions to eventually provide the highest possible business case certainty for our customers. This newest addition to our offshore product portfolio is no exception,” says Finn Strøm Madsen, president of Vestas Technology R&D.
The innovative part of the new turbine is, along with a wide range of technical features, its size and consequently much increased energy capture whereas the proven technology is represented by, among other things, the medium-speed drive-train solution.
The panel of judges consisted of John Goss, Managing Director, Ceejay International Ltd; Philippe Du Four, Managing Director | Chairman Global Power Practice, Marsh (Singapore) Pte Ltd; John Yeap, Partner, Head of Energy – Asia, Pinsent Masons; Geoff James, Principal Research Scientist, Energy Technology, CSIRO Australia; Robin Pickup, Global Product Manager Inspection Services, Energy, Lloyd’s Register Group; and Andrew Bedford, Senior Environmental Consultant, KBC Advanced Technology Pte Ltd.
A dedicated offshore turbine – specifically designed for the roughest North Sea conditions. The V164-7.0 MW signifies a quantum leap forward in rotor size and energy capture. Reducing operations and maintenance costs by enabling customers to run fewer, larger turbines, the 164m rotor diameters offers you a swept area of more than 21,000m2 – the equivalent of almost three football pitches. When it comes to profitability the bigger the swept area the bigger is the revenue.
Lowering the cost of energy in relation to offshore wind power is essential for the industry. Some of the major stepping stones in achieving this are size and subsequent increased energy capture, which means a need for much bigger turbines that are specifically designed for the challenging offshore environment. With the introduction of the V164-7.0 MW Vestas is taking a major step towards meeting these needs.
