According to Siemens, the scope of supply encompasses delivery, installation and commissioning of 90 gearless SWT-3.0 wind turbines with a power rating of 3.0 MW. Siemens' service team will maintain the wind turbines under a long term service agreement. Installation of the wind turbines is scheduled to begin in 2013, commissioning of the wind power plant is planned for 2014.
"With the SWT-3.0 direct drive wind turbine, our customers like TrustPower get a high-quality product from a partner whom they can trust. The innovative direct-drive wind technology is a reliable investment in the future of renewable power generation in Australia," said Kay Weber, CEO of the Siemens Wind Power Business Unit APAC.
According to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), Australia has exceptional wind resources which will make an increasing contribution to its energy mix. GWEC estimates that Australia`s installed wind power capacity will triple from today`s 2,200 MW to roughly 6,900 MW in 2016.
The Snowtown II Wind Farm will be located approximately 140 km north of Adelaide in South Australia. Once completed, it will be one of the largest wind projects in Australia and provide clean and renewable energy to power the equivalent of up to 180,000 average households in the region.
Breaking blade barriers
Earlier this summer, Siemens announced it had built the world's largest rotor blades for wind turbines, measuring 75 metres. The giant components made of fibre glass will be used by Siemens' new offshore wind turbine generation with a capacity of 6 megawatts (MW). They will be installed on the first prototype of Siemens' 6-MW offshore wind turbine with the 154-metre rotor, which will be erected this summer in Denmark's Østerild.
Each rotor has a diameter of 154 metres covering 18,600 square metres, which is the size of two and a half soccer fields. The tips of the blades move at up to 80 metres per second, or 290 kilometres per hour. “The huge rotor was made possible by special technologies that enable Siemens to make extremely strong yet lightweight structures,” says the company.
[Inset: Siemens largest rotor blade to date, measuring 75 metres.]
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