The GE Brief: May 13, 2021
Martha’s Vineyard is famous for its A-list vacationers who descend every summer on the island off coast of Massachusetts to recharge their batteries. But the place is now set to become known for another kind of energy. On Monday, the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management gave the final go-ahead to Vineyard Wind 1, America’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, scheduled to be built in the Atlantic Ocean some 15 miles from the island’s sandy beaches.
Sea change: Vineyard Wind 1 is projected to generate 800 megawatts and supply renewable electricity to thousands of U.S. homes. Integral to its design are GE’s Haliade-X offshore wind turbines. Each of these turbines — the most powerful built to date — can generate between 12 and 14 megawatts (MW), depending on the needs of a given project. Using the higher-efficiency Haliade-X allowed the wind farm to reduce the number of turbines it needs from 108 to 62. John Lavelle, president and CEO of Offshore Wind at GE Renewable Energy, said Monday’s announcement was “a key step toward achieving the Biden administration’s goal of bringing 30 GW of offshore wind online by 2030.”
Read more about Vineyard Wind here.
CORE STRENGTH
Growing up outside Philadelphia, Jhansi Kandasamy remembers being enchanted by her father’s descriptions of fans as large as houses that cooled the giant 1,100-megawatt nuclear power plant where he was an engineer. She channeled that fascination into her career today at GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, in Wilmington, North Carolina, where she is developing a new generation of nuclear reactors called small modular reactors, or SMRs (see video below).
Going big by going small: SMRs produce carbon-free electricity while they are in operation, and promise to play an important role in tomorrow’s energy ecosystem. When the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining, SMRs will be able to step up and pump out large amounts of energy. “It’s fascinating for me to think about how I can play a small part in this initiative to help care for the earth,” Kandasamy says.
Read our story about Kandasamy, the future of nuclear power, and her work with Women in Nuclear here.
The BWRX-300 small modular reactor from GE Hitachi can help countries achieve decarbonization goals. Here’s why.
— QUOTE OF THE DAY —
“Today’s Record of Decision is not about the start of a single project, but the launch of a new industry.”
— Lars T. Pedersen, Vineyard Wind CEO
Quote: GE Reports. Images: GE Renewable Energy, GE Hitachi.