General Electricals: GE Renewable Energy’s Cypress onshore wind turbine selected for repowering project in the Netherlands

GE Renewable Energy announced today that it has been selected by Windkoepel Groen to repower part of the Windplan Groen project in Flevoland province in the Netherlands. Repowering involves replacing older units with new, higher capacity turbines or retrofitting them with more efficient components – in both cases, significantly increasing wind farm production while extending the wind farm life.

As part of this repowering project, GE will be providing 26 Cypress 6.0-164 onshore wind turbines at three wind parks (Ansjovisstroom, Hanze and XY Wind) with the total installed capacity of 156 MW. The three parks are expected to be completed in 2023. The agreement also includes a 25-year full-service contract.

Gilan Sabatier, GE’s Chief Commercial Officer of Onshore Wind International, said: “We are delighted to have been selected for the Windplan Groen project with our latest and most powerful onshore wind turbine. This will significantly increase the wind farm’s energy output and deliver even more affordable and sustainable renewable energy to the Netherlands. He added: “The repowering of older wind farms with more powerful turbines will play a significant role in achieving Europe’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. With our Cypress technology we are committed to helping operators throughout Europe in boosting the output of their wind farms.”

Windkoepel Groen manages the Windplan Groen project in Flevoland province, a collaboration between local residents and entrepreneurs. More than 400 farmers and residents are actively contributing to the development of the project. With 90 wind turbines across 11 wind parks and an estimated capacity of 500 MW, Windplan Groen is the largest onshore wind farm in the Netherlands in terms of production and installed capacity. The project is making a substantial contribution to the Dutch national target goal of 16% sustainable energy by 2023. Windplan Groen will produce approximately 1.9 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) per year.

Introduced in November 2020, the 6.0-164 turbine is the latest and most powerful model in GE’s Cypress platform portfolio, which also includes the 5.5-158, 5.3-158 and 4.8-158 turbines. The Cypress 6.0-164 increases Annual Energy Production (AEP) by up to 11% more than the 5.3-158 model. The 6.0-164 turbine can produce enough electricity to power approximately 5,800 European households. Since its introduction, GE Renewable Energy has received more than 6.8 GW of orders for its Cypress turbines in multiple countries around the world.

GE Renewable Energy is committed to enable the energy transition by supporting the work of its customers. As part of that responsibility, the business is focused on supplying and maintaining a global fleet of renewable energy assets, helping reduce the cost of renewable energy, ensuring grid resiliency, efficiency, and reliability, and making renewable energy function in a more dispatchable fashion. GE Renewable Energy also supports the energy transition by pursuing a strategy that reflects a commitment to sustainable, circular design.