The turbines are part of a planned 86-turbine installation at the site deploying GE’s Brilliant wind turbine which is the first turbine model to include integrated battery applications into the turbine system. Three powerful software applications work with the battery in these units in order to enable the provision of short-term predictable power and to enhance revenue potential for customers.
The 2.5-120 turbine, the launch of which was announced by GE in January, harnesses the power of the industrial internet to analyze thousands of data points every second in order to help manage wind variability and provide reliable short-term predictable power while communicating with neighbouring turbines, service technicians and operators. This enables the turbine to capture the wind for short-term energy storage, the first turbine to use battery storage as part of the complete turbine package.
The integration of the battery into the turbine allows wind farm operators to reap the benefits of energy storage without having to depend on farm-level batterage storage installation, which is expensive. The turbine design incorporates GE’s Durathon battery technology with three software applications creating an intelligent system which enables power producers and the turbines themselves to make data-informed decisions.
“With rapid expansion of the United States wind industry over the past five years, wind power plays an increasingly important role in America’s energy mix,” said Keith Longtin, general manager, wind product line for GE’s renewable energy business. “This new marriage of battery storage and advanced software within a wind turbine allows forward-thinking wind energy producers like Invenergy to shift the winds in its favor—increasing wind power’s efficiency and short-term predictability.”
The turbines are to be installed this year at the Goldthwaite Wind Energy facility in Central Texas which is expected to commence full commercial operation by the end of 2013. Invenergy will be among the first power producers to be able to test the benefits of data-driven, turbine-to-battery communication aimed at predicting wind power production in 15-60 minute increments.
”As America’s largest independent wind power generation company, innovation is critical to our continued industry leadership,” said Michael Polsky, Invenergy’s president and chief executive officer. “We’re pleased that this new brilliant turbine will provide cutting-edge technological advancements, particularly in renewable energy integration with storage.”
The software applications consist of ramp control, which enables the turbine to capture “wasted” wind power and store it in the battery, Predictable Power, which allows the turbine to smooth out short-term peaks and troughs in generated wind power and make it predictable over periods of 15-60 minutes, and Frequency Regulation, which allows the turbines to respond immediately to load changes with ultimate precision.
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