GE Renewable Energy has launched a new 6MW version of its Cypress onshore wind turbine, joining the likes of Vestas, Siemens Gamesa and MingYang Smart Energy in the 6MW-plus class.
Its new Cypress 6.0-164 will have a power rating of 6.0MW and rotor diameter of 164 metres. It will be GE’s most powerful onshore wind turbine available.
Like other turbines in GE’s Cypress platform, it will feature a two-piece blade to help with transportation and to reduce costs, the manufacturer explained.
The new model will also facilitate up-tower repairs and feature condition-based predictive services that will improve return-to-service and uptime, while reducing lifecycle costs, GE added.
It is expected to be commercially available by 2022, and is designed for low- to medium-wind sites.
GE Renewable Energy's latest addition to the Cypress platform joins a growing number of 5MW-plus turbines as well as a smaller number of 6MW-plus units.
The 6.0-164’s 21,124m2 swept area means at a maximum 6MW output, the turbine will have a specific power rating of 284W/m2 – lower than that of Vestas’ recently announced 6MW EnVentus unit (300W/m2) and Nordex’s newly boosted 5.7MW machine (326W/m2).
However, its specific power rating is higher than that of Siemens Gamesa’s SG 5.8-170 (252W/m2), Enercon’s 5.5MW E-160 EP5 E2 (242W/m2) and MingYang’s MySE6.25-173 (265W/m2). Siemens Gamesa also offers a 6.6MW turbine, the SG 6.6-155.
GE’s Cypress platform also includes 5.5-158, 5.3-158 and 4.8-158 models.
It builds on technology used in GE’s 2MW and 3MW platforms and covers multiple wind classes.
GE has received more than 3.4GW of orders for turbines from its Cypress platform since its launch in September 2017.
