AMSC, a global solutions provider serving the wind and power grid industry, announced the availability of its newest wind turbine design. The 2 megawatt (MW) wind turbine has a rotor diameter of 113 meters and a swept area of 10,039 square meters, making it an ideal wind turbine for low wind speed regions. Additionally, AMSC also announced today that it has successfully completed the A-Design Assessment according to the latest GL2010 onshore guideline for its 2 MW wind turbine design with 93 meter and 100 meter rotor. The certification was completed by DEWI-Offshore and Certification Center (DEWI-OCC), a certification body for on- and offshore wind turbines and their components, accredited by the DAkkS (Deutsches Akkreditierungssystem Prüfwesen).

Low wind speed turbines are expected to open up new markets in regions that are already saturated with wind farms, such as southern Germany and parts of the United States and emerging markets such as the Middle East and Africa. India has a large number of sites with low-wind resources. Additionally, turbines designed for low wind speed can also be ideally located close to population centers. In China, low wind speed turbines near urban centers can reduce the bottlenecks on the transmission system that can be caused by the long-distance transmission of electricity.

"We believe that AMSC's new low wind speed turbine makes it possible to achieve a low cost of energy at the low wind speed sites that were previously inaccessible or not economically compelling. The new low-wind speed design is expected to lower cost of energy by as much as 12% compared to previous AMSC designs, increasing its competitiveness with traditional fossil fuels," said Daniel P. McGahn, CEO, AMSC.

This new 2MW turbine design with a 113 meter rotor is expected to deliver nearly 20% more energy than AMSC's 2MW turbine design 93 meter rotor. The turbine design is available for all climate conditions and various hub heights. It is also available with doubly-fed and full conversion drive train architectures as well as with the proven and certified AMSC grid support solutions such as low voltage ride-through capability and wtWPC™ wind park controller for grid integration, both of which enable superior power quality and reactive power support. AMSC is an industry leader in grid interconnection, VAR compensation and voltage control.

AMSC designs wind turbines from 2MW and higher. The new 2MW low wind speed turbine design benefits from the superior supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and wind park solutions which enable the integration of wind turbines into existing wind farms or the upgrade of existing installations with the latest technology.

GL2010 Assessment
In the field of wind energy, DEWI-OCC carries out certifications as well as expertise for investors (due diligence) and for government authorities, type approvals, examinations, periodic inspections, risk- and damage analyses. As a result of the successful A-Design Assessment for its 2 MW wind turbine with 93 meter and 100 meter rotor, AMSC is one of the first companies to successfully comply with GL2010, which is the latest GL guideline. The certification was done by DEWI-OCC. The assessment covers all aspects of the safety and control concept, load assumptions and load calculations, and all components of the system. Inox Wind Ltd. (Inox) in India is AMSC's first partner to utilize the certification. Inox is India's fast growing wind turbine supplier.
 

The data sheet for AMSC's 2 MW wind turbine can be found here.

AMSC
www.amsc.com