Smart wind turbines will boost Canada’s renewable energy portfolio

Special to Financial Post, Financial Post
The Canadian Wind Energy Association predicts that Canada can achieve 55,000 megawatts (MW) of domestic wind power capacity by 2025. WindVision 2025: Powering Canada’s Future notes that new wind turbine designs will be larger, more efficient, and more reliable than current models, providing clean energy at a price competitive with fossil fuels.
GE’s new 2.5-MW Brilliant wind turbine is already providing next-generation designs built for the Canadian climate that will enable wind farm operators to generate higher electrical output, even at low-wind sites.
Offering a maximum hub height of 139 metres and a 120-metre rotor, the turbine offers an average 15% increase in annul energy production and a 25% increase in power generation capacity over previous models.
At this height, the turbines are economically viable even in densely forested areas and can be outfitted with extreme weather packages to stand up to harsh Canadian winters.
The embodiment of the Industrial Internet, these turbines offer unparalleled connectivity to both sophisticated computers and engineering teams who can monitor and control their operation from anywhere in the world.
Advanced sensors take the pulse of the turbine’s moving parts, assessing thousands of data points per second. An Internet connection allows the turbine to perform tasks as complex as assimilating weather information and determining electrical grid requirements. This allows the turbine to fine-tune anything from turbine blade adjustments to transmission system frequencies and voltages.
Data and video links allow human operators to assess the turbine’s operation, schedule pre-emptive maintenance and provide images from the turbine site, allowing operators to troubleshoot from anywhere in the world.
“The goal is to bring the tech and the turbine as close to the engineers in the office as possible,” says Richard Reno, wind product general manager in GE Energy’s Renewables Division.
Electrical storage capacity even allows the turbines to store up to 50 kilowatt-hours of power when the grid doesn’t need it and release that power when it does.
WindVision 2025 presents an achievable goal for Canada’s energy production mix. By adopting the most advanced turbine technologies, that goal can be achieved with electricity produced at a competitive price.