Endurance Wind Power recently launched its new 85kW E4660 wind turbine at RenewableUK’s 36th Annual Conference in Manchester.
This new turbine generates 35 percent more electricity than the original model, which means a lower cost of energy and an excellent return on investment (ROI) even at modest wind sites, effectively turning back the clock on the UK Feed in Tariffs to 2012 levels.
The 35 percent jump in productivity more than compensates for the 30 percent Feed in Tariff (FiT) degression that has taken place over the last 18 months, giving installers a second chance at achieving the FiT revenues of 2012.
Dave Rankin, UK Managing Director of Endurance Wind Power, said: “The purpose of UK’s Feed in Tariff scheme is to make wind more affordable and that is what this machine does. Endurance has created an even more efficient machine that shows DECC’s Feed-in Tariff scheme continues to work.”
Brett Pingree, Commercial Vice President at Endurance Wind Power, said: “You don’t get a lot of second chances, but if you didn’t invest in wind this year, or you missed out on the FIT revenues of 2012, this new machine is one of those rare second chances.”
The biggest selling wind turbine in the UK is the Endurance E Series: more than 600 have been installed by farmers, landowners, small businesses and community groups. The new E4660 is a powerful advancement of the UK’s leading small wind machine.
The higher output and larger swept area deliver a lower ‘levelized cost of energy’ (LCOE), making wind work in more places by opening up sites with lower wind speed sites where the business case for installation previously didn’t make commercial sense.
The capability of the E4660 to generate a strong ROI from lower wind speeds allows many more farmers and local communities up and down the country to ‘farm wind’ from single turbines.
The E4660 has undergone extensive design verification testing at the Endurance Wind Turbine test facility, a location that features powerful nightly winds and provides an ideal range of wind conditions to validate turbine performance.
Dr. Daryl Musselman, P.Eng., Vice President of Engineering at Endurance, said “the goal of this new product development effort was to maximise the customer benefit by optimising the efficiency of the design, while retaining all of the essential elements that our customers recognise and appreciate in the smaller E3120 model. The E4660 is the product of a global engineering effort and incorporates lessons learned from over 14 million fleet hours of operation in the UK and around the world. I am very proud of what our teams have achieved in the design of this new turbine.”
Louisa Coursey, Small & Medium Wind Development Manager at RenewableUK, said: “Small and medium wind turbines are already powering many UK homes, farms and businesses, and are a crucial strategic consideration for UK policy makers looking to support the shift from the Big 6 to the Big 60,000.”
The E3120 will continue to be available in the UK and in Endurance’s other markets including Italy, Canada, and the United States.
