Innovation : GE
The need for cleaner, reliable forms of energy is driving demand for wind power all around the world. See how we’re helping harvest the wind in China.
With a rapidly growing economy to support the installation of new sites, and a set of geographical features particularly well-suited to producing wind energy, China is a natural place for wind farm installations.
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China is quickly becoming one of the fastest growing wind energy markets in the world. It has set a target of 10 gigawatts of installed wind energy capacity by 2010. GE is currently involved in nine wind farms across China, helping to meet this growing demand for cleaner energy.
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The Shangyi Manjing Wind Farm is an excellent example of the growing global trend toward cleaner electricity. In Hebei province, 250km outside of Beijing, it will be the largest wind farm in China when completed next year, with 215 turbines.
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A northern wind comes down from Siberia providing a steady and reliable source of wind energy that makes the site at Shangyi an ideal location for a wind farm. Each turbine can produce enough energy each year to power over 3,000 average Chinese homes.
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The beautiful but rugged environment of Shangyi has an average winter temperature of –15° Celsius. The turbines at Shangyi have been modified for the cold weather extremes of the location.
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Energy from the Shangyi wind farm supplies energy to the Olympic Central Area through its contribution to the North China Grid which will power the 2008 Olympic Games. When the wind farm is completed in 2009, it is projected to contribute energy equivalent to that needed to power over 600,000 average Chinese homes each year for years to come.
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In 2006, GE opened a new assembly facility in Shenyang, China, where the GE turbines for the Shangyi wind farm are now manufactured.
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GE’s 1.5 MW turbines have an efficient variable-pitch, variable speed design allowing the blades of the rotor to be adjusted to catch different speeds of wind. GE’s 1.5-megawatt wind turbine is among the most widely used machines in the global wind industry, with more than 8,000 installed worldwide.
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At its apex the rotor of a 1.5 MW turbine reaches about the same height as a thirty-storey building. Imagine taking a football field, putting it almost 90 yards up in the air and then spinning it. That gives you a rough idea of the size of each one of the wind farm turbines.
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Wind energy is just one of the many ecomagination technologies helping China to meet its cleaner energy needs. The Shangyi wind farm is part of our ongoing commitment to tackle some of the world’s most difficult problems with innovative solutions.
image 10GE's wind turbine technologies play an important role in our ecomagination portfolio of products and services that are economically advantageous and environmentally sound.
Visit ecomagination.comBecause of its efficiency, reliability and advanced technology, GE’s 1.5 MW turbine is the 'workhorse' of the industry with over 500 installations in China and over 8,000 installations worldwide.
Learn more at ge-energy.com
