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2010 | Alstom’s ECO 100 wind turbine technology to provide more than 80 MW of clean power to France by the end of the year
Alstom, global leader in the supply of equipment and services for power generation, and EDP Renewables (EDPR), the third-largest wind energy company in the world, announced the signature of the Provisional Acceptance Certificate of the Le Mée wind farm in La Région Centre, France, beginning of October 2010.
Le Mée wind farm is the third to be commissioned in less than a year in the region Centre (France), using Alstom’s latest 3 MW ECO 100 wind turbine technology. The 18 MW farm consists of six 3 MW Alstom ECO 100 wind turbines. Under the terms of the contract, Alstom delivered, installed and commissioned the turbines and is responsible for their operation and maintenance for the next two years.
Two other ECO 100 wind farms; Le Vieux Moulin (6 X ECO 100) and La Vallée du Moulin (10 X ECO 100), have been successfully commissioned by Alstom in France, and a fourth, named Pièces de Vigne (5 X ECO 100), is under construction. At the end of the year, Alstom will have installed and commissioned 27 ECO 100 wind turbines for EDPR in the region Centre, providing more than 80 MW, the equivalent of approximately 50 000 households, the size of a city like Orléans.
The French government plans to generate up to 23% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Wind power generation will be one of the major forms of renewable energy power to be developed. The French wind market is the 7th largest market in the world, in terms of both installed capacity and annual added capacity. In 2009, installed capacity reached 4,5 GW (on-shore only). According to the objectives of the French « Grenelle II » bill, this figure should reach 25 GW, split between 19 GW for on-shore and 6 GW for off-shore wind.
"The ECO 100 is a top-of-the-range wind turbine that is increasingly being used as a reference by the European wind industry and beyond, said Alfonso Faubel, Vice President of Alstom Wind. The four contracts with EDPR in the region Centre demonstrate EDPR’s ongoing confidence in Alstom’s flagship product and Alstom’s unbeatable technology in the field of renewable energy. Alstom continues its research on the new generation of wind turbines. The 1st ECO 110 unit was installed in November last year in Spain and development is well underway of our 6MW direct drive off-shore model.”
Alstom’s 3 MW ECO 100 and ECO 110 wind turbines belong to the company’s ECO 100 platform, which represents a major advance in turbine power capacity and energy yield. Longer blades capture more power more effectively. This means fewer turbines, and less land space, are required to generate the same amount of power. The ECO 100 is suitable for medium to high wind speeds, while the ECO 110 wind turbine is designed to operate with lower wind flows, which is critical to ensure the wider adoption of wind power globally. The platform’s low rotor speed translates directly into low noise emission.
All Alstom’s wind turbines contain the unique ALSTOM PURE TORQUE ™ rotor support concept, which protects the gearbox and other drive train components from deflection loads for increased reliability.
Globally, Alstom has installed or is installing more than 2,080 wind turbines in more than 110 wind farms, corresponding to a total capacity of more than 2680 MW.
The latest wind contracts won by Alstom emphasises Alstom’s capability of providing clean energy to a growing market. The group announced, early September, an order worth over €200 million with Scottish Power Renewables (SPR) to build a 217 MW extension to the Whitelee wind farm in Scotland, where Alstom will install 69 ECO100 wind turbines. It follows the growth potential of the European wind power sector since in just 15 years, installed generation capacity increased from 2,5 GW in 1995 to 74,8 GW by the end of 2009. The sector could reach an installed capacity of 230 GW by 2020*. At the end of September, Alstom keep growing in the wind sector and entered the Turkish energy market with a contract for a 24 MW wind farm (8 X ECO100).
Source : Communiqué Alstom
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