Siemens wind turbines are now powering 17,000 homes in Wellington, New Zealand, after the first string at Meridian Energy’s West Wind wind farm in Wellington was connected to the national grid at the end of April.
In the company of Siemens Global CEO of Renewable Energy Division, Dr René Umlauft, Siemens Ltd Managing Director and Chairman Albert Goller, and Siemens New Zealand CEO Paul Ravlich, the New Zealand Prime Minister the Hon John Key flicked the oversized switch and set the 15 Siemens wind turbines in motion.
West Wind is largest wind farm for Siemens in the Southern Hemisphere. When fully operational at the end of 2009, the 62-turbine development will have a capacity of 142 megawatts and will power the equivalent of 70,000 average New Zealand homes - that’s all the homes within the territorial boundaries of Wellington City and double the capacity of the world’s average wind farm.
Umlauft said Siemens wind technology would make a marked contribution to the renewable energy target set by the New Zealand government through this and new projects being planned, and emphasised the need to continue developing renewable energies to meet the world market’s need for clean energy.
"The renewables target is very challenging, but we would like to support it. I would be happy if some other countries could go the same way at the same speed as New Zealand has,” said Umlauft.
“We have to develop renewables, for Siemens that means bringing up the technology, for governments and our customers it means bringing it into the field.
"In countries where the renewable opportunities are not there, we have to use different technologies. We have to develop technology to reduce CO2 from coal-fired plants and combined cycle plants; we also need to increase efficiency from transmission. It is not a competition, you have to look to reduce CO2 overall.”
The efficient and sustainable supply of energy underpins the Siemens energy portfolio. From gas, steam and wind turbines to low NOx burners and high and medium voltage applications, Siemens has energy solutions for the sustainable generation, transmission and distribution of power. In Australia, Siemens is currently conducting research into solar energy and trialling Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) technology.