General Electric has switched on its experimental next-generation wind turbine known as Cypress. Cypress is located north of Amsterdam and is one of the biggest and most important wind turbines. It is one of its kind with a brand new type of blade that has been developed by General Electric. The ingenious design of Cypress could lead to the manufacturing of more efficient and bigger turbines.
Wind power is becoming more commonplace with governments focused on meeting the increasing energy demands in an effective and environment-friendly manner. As of right now, the biggest blades that are operating are about 300 feet long. The problem that wind turbine manufacturers such as GE face is that the current iteration of the wind turbines is the biggest that they can get.
Why? Because the turbine blades have to be created in a factory and then transported to the construction site. For the most part of the journey, the turbine blades are sitting on the back of trucks as they make their way through highways and local roads. You all can imagine quite well that a 300-feet turbine blade will cause practicality problems especially when sharp corners are a part of the commute.
In fact, transporting such huge turbine blades can become such a huge logistical hell that a lot of companies end up building new roads with the sole purpose of moving the blades. All of these issues eventually impose a limit on how big the blades can get. Enter Cypress turbine blades by General Electric. They are manufactured in two separate pieces thus enabling ease in transportation and allowing the company to go bigger when designing and building wind turbines.
The prototype that has been built in the Netherlands is capable of generating 5.3 megawatts of electricity. This is enough to provide power to about 5,000 homes. However, the turbines that are built using Cypress blades in the future will be able to generate even more. The biggest advantage, however, is that now turbines can be built even in remote places where they couldn’t be built previously because of logistical reasons. According to a statement by GE, the first order for a Cypress turbine has already been placed, and the company is expecting more orders to follow soon enough!
