Just north of Amsterdam, one of the world’s biggest—and most important—wind turbines has just switched on. It is a demonstration of a new type of blade developed by General Electric called Cypress, whose clever design could lead to bigger and more efficient turbines.
As wind power becomes more commonplace, governments and utilities are increasingly demanding more power, which equates to bigger turbines and turbine blades. The largest blades in operation right now are nearly 300 feet long. The problem for wind turbine manufacturers like GE is that, in their current iteration, that’s about as big as turbines can ever get.
That’s because all these turbine blades have to be made in a factory somewhere and then transported to the construction site. For most of that journey, those turbine blades are sitting on the backs of trucks as they navigate both highways and local roads to reach their destination. A 300-foot blade will understandably create several problems at certain points along those routes, especially when sharp corners are involved.
Moving long turbine blades is such a logistical nightmare that the companies involved sometimes resort to building new roads for the sole purpose of moving blades. Ultimately, such issues put a soft upper limit on how big wind turbine blades can get, which in turn limits how much electricity governments and utilities can produce with wind power.
One potential solution is GE’s new Cypress turbine blades. Cypress blades are made in two separate pieces for transport, allowing the company to build blades much larger than they otherwise could.
Currently, the prototype turbine in the Netherlands generates a modest 5.3 megawatts of electricity. That’s enough to power around 5,000 homes. But in the future, turbines built with Cypress blades could produce substantially more. Perhaps more importantly, Cypress turbines can be built in more remote regions that wouldn’t be practical for conventional turbines. The result here is more turbines if not necessarily larger ones.\
According to GE, the first order for a Cypress turbine has already been placed, and the company is expecting more soon.
