March 16, 2015 – Siemens has introduced a new wind turbine, the seven-megawatt SWT-7.0-154. It delivers nearly 10% more energy than its predecessor (SWT-6.0-154) under offshore wind conditions, said the company.

“Stronger permanent magnets and generator segments in the permanent magnet generator provide the key to harvesting a higher yield,” noted Siemens. Also, the converter and transformer have been upgraded. All other components remain the same as the 6-MW wind turbine. The 6-MW version will continue to be available for sale but Siemens has renamed the product platform to D7.

“Our new wind turbine offers our customers an investment as reliable as our proven G4 and D6 product platforms,” said Offshore CEO Michael Hannibal of Siemens Wind Power and Renewables. “Yet it also answers market demands to achieve greater energy yield at lower cost and effort.”

Siemens said it is enabling grid connection of offshore wind turbines without the need for high-voltage alternating-current (HVAC) offshore substations. The conventional platform can be substituted by the new Siemens Grid Access Solution in AC-technology, which acts as a distributed transmission asset and can be mounted together with a turbine on the same foundation or independently.

Siemens presented the new model at the international wind power conference and exhibition EWEA Offshore 2015 in Copenhagen earlier this month. It’s set to go into series production by 2017.