North American Windpower: GE Technology To Regulate Wind Turbine Curtailment At Maine Wind Farms

in News Departments > Projects & Contracts

by NAW Staff on Wednesday 09 January 2013

GE will install its WindCONTROL software at two First Wind-owned and -operated wind projects in Rollins and Stetson, Maine.

The Rollins site features 40 GE 1.5-77 turbines, and the Stetson project contains 55 GE 1.5-77 turbines. The GE technology will regulate curtailment by monitoring and controlling the wind turbines' ramp rates, thus easing power spikes and putting less strain on the turbine than would occur with starts and stops, GE explains.

"The effect of curtailment on wind turbines has been an area of concern for us," says EJ Martin, First Wind’s vice president of operations. “The application of GE’s WindCONTROL technology to our wind turbines in Maine will help the units maximize energy capture while mitigating the strain on our units as we regulate power production.”

Using GE’s WindCONTROL, turbine owners can earn back power that may have been lost due to inefficient controls for meeting curtailment. The software automatically controls the output of each wind turbine at the wind farm, thus avoiding the starting and stopping of units to meet power demand, GE says.

GE previously announced that First Wind selected GE as its service provider for First Wind’s entire fleet of 264 GE wind turbines at eight sites across the U.S. The eight-year service agreement expanded upon existing contracts with First Wind and was the first contract to cover an entire fleet of wind turbines signed by GE at that time.

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