Suzlon Group to unveil 6.15 MW offshore turbine in Frankfurt

The Suzlon Group company REPower will unveil its largest offshore turbine, the Repower 6.2M152, which will make offshore wind power generation more cost-effective.

With a rated generating capacity of 6.15 megawatts, each REpower 6.2M152 turbine can supply electricity to around 4,000 homes.

Compared to the previous generation REpower 6.2M126 (126 m) the new turbine will see increase in energy yield by up to 20 per cent at wind speeds of 9.5 m/s, Suzlon said in a release.

The new turbine, which features a rotor diameter of 152 metres, sweeping an area larger than three football pitches, will be on display at the EWEA Offshore 2013, being held at Frankfurt from November 19 to 21.

The nacelle (the cover that houses all of the generating components in a wind turbine) alone is as big as two detached houses and will be constructed offshore at a height of between 95 and 110 metres.

Andreas Nauen, CEO of REpower Systems SE, said the bigger rotor and correspondingly larger drive train of REpower 6.2M152 combined with technology enables energy generation more cost-efficiently on the high seas.

The Hamburg-based company has already sold the prototype REpower 6.2M152, and the prototype is to be constructed with a hub height of 124 metres at an onshore site in northern Germany. The construction of the facility is scheduled for completion by end-2014.

REpower 6.2M152 will enter commercial production from 2015.

Repower, which already manufactures the world's most powerful commercially-produced offshore turbine, said it has constructed more than 100 offshore turbines so far.