Popular Science magazine has recognized GE’s 2.5-120 brilliant wind turbine with its 2013 “Best of What’s New” award in the “Green” category. Announced in January, the 2.5-120 is GE’s first brilliant turbine, which harnesses the power of the Industrial Internet to analyze tens of thousands of data points every second, providing short-term predictable power and communicating seamlessly with neighboring turbines, service technicians and operators.
“For more than a quarter century, Popular Science has devoted its December issue to the year’s most remarkable innovations,” said Cliff Ransom, executive editor, Popular Science. “The ‘Best of What’s New’ Awards is our magazine’s top honor, and the 100 awardees are selected from a pool of thousands. Each winner is handpicked and revolutionary in its own way. Whether they’re poised to change the world or simply your living room, the ‘Best of What’s New’ awardees challenge us to the see the future in a new light.”
Popular Science featured GE’s integrated wind energy storage technology in part four of its series on America’s Road to Energy Independence.
The 2.5-120 is the first wind turbine to incorporate short-term energy storage as part of the complete turbine package. Integrating the battery into the wind turbine allows wind farm operators to reap the benefits of energy storage without the high costs of farm-level battery storage installation. This revolutionary configuration integrates GE’s advanced Durathon Battery technology with three software applications. The resulting intelligent system enables power producers and the wind turbines themselves to make data-informed decisions and provide short-term predictable power.
“We are thrilled with this recognition from Popular Science,” said Keith Longtin, general manager of GE’s renewable energy business. “Combining energy storage and advanced software at the turbine level helps tackle wind’s most inherent challenge: its variability. With short-term energy storage and GE’s advanced forecasting algorithms we can help improve wind power’s predictability efficiently and more cost-effectively.”
GE engineers created three battery-enabled software applications that integrate seamlessly with the wind turbine to provide enhanced wind power availability. Wind developers and operators can select the application or combination of applications that best suits individual site needs.
Ramp Control: Today, when wind speed increases quickly, the grid cannot always absorb the extra wind power produced. GE’s Ramp Control App allows the brilliant turbine to capture “wasted” wind power and store it in the battery meaning operators can capture revenue previously left on the table.
Predictable Power: Power producers must be able to provide consistent and predictable power to the grid but the variability of wind can make smooth grid integration challenging. The Predictable Power App allows the brilliant turbine to smooth out the short-term peaks and valleys in wind power and make it predictable over periods of 15-60 minutes.
Frequency Regulation: Power demand changes throughout the day and grid operators must keep up with its constant fluctuation. Grid operators look to power producers to respond rapidly to keep the grid balanced. The Frequency Regulation App allows wind farms to store energy in the battery and respond to load changes with precision.
For more information, visit www.ge-energy.com.
