Siemens Gamesa has successfully installed its 1,000th Direct Drive wind turbine eight years after it first launched, saving approximately 29 million tons of CO2 emissions to date compared to fossil fuel generation. However, the company has noted that there are a further 1,000 Direct Drive wind turbines on back order.
At the end of 2018, it was estimated that 66 TWh of energy worldwide was produced by wind turbines. Siemens Gamesa’s Direct Drive wind turbines combined have reportedly produced 34.6 TWh of power generation since it was first installed in 2011, which the company says is enough to cover the total electricity consumption of Madrid.
The 1,000th Direct Drive wind turbine was installed at the British 714 MW East Anglia One project, which saw 51 of Siemens Gamesa’s turbines installed.
“Installing the Siemens Gamesa offshore Direct Drive wind turbine number 1,000 is a remarkable achievement in many ways. Our contribution to combatting the effects of climate change becomes more tangible with the physical installation of this turbine along with its 999 predecessors,” stated Andreas Nauen, CEO of the Siemens Gamesa Offshore Business Unit.
According to performance data collected by Siemens Gamesa, its Direct Drive offshore wind turbine fleet has produced approximately 34.6 Terawatt hours of electricity since the first unit was installed in 2011. This output is the same as the annual consumption for every household in Denmark, or the power consumption of the city of Madrid including all industry for one year.
Nauen added, “The Levelised Cost of Energy from offshore wind has decreased rapidly over the last few years, fully establishing the technology as on-par with traditional industrial power generation methods. Our order backlog with an additional 1,000+ SGRE Direct Drive offshore turbines is a testament to this achievement, and to the trust placed in us by our customers.”