Suzlon Group, the world's fifth largest wind turbine manufacturer, today announced the launch of its newest wind turbine – the S111 - 2.1 MW machine designed for low wind speed sites. Featuring a rotor diameter of 111 meters, and a swept area of more than 9,500 square meters, the S111 is the latest generation of Suzlon’s 2.1 MW fleet, and one of the highest-yielding IEC Class III wind turbines of any comparable class machine.
Announcing the new product at WINDPOWER 2012 in Atlanta and speaking at the launch, Mr. Tulsi Tanti, Chairman – Suzlon Group said: “We are extremely pleased to introduce the S111 windturbine. This new turbine builds on our extensive experience operating over 2,500 units of our S88, S95 and S97 2.1 MW turbine platforms around the world.
“With the industry increasingly looking to lower wind speed sites, the S111 represents a major step forward in our strategy to create products that deliver ever increasing output from lower wind speeds, delivering solutions that precisely fit our customers’ needs. We believe the S111 will be a market defining product.”
Giving the North American perspective, Mr. Duncan Koerbel, Suzlon Wind Energy Corporation’s interim CEO and Global Head of OMS, added: “In today’s ultra-competitive North American PPA market, our customers need a higher efficiency machine that can generate more megawatts at the lowest possible cost per kWh. We believe S111 meets those needs.
“We will offer the S111 with tower heights of 95 and 120 meters, and combined with our all new third generation rotor, the S111 will deliver a 20 to 29 per cent increase in annual energy production over our S97 design in a 90 meter configuration.”
Speaking on the new turbine, Mr. John O’Halloran, President of Technology for Suzlon Energy, said: “The S111 builds on our considerable experience in the 2 MW space and combines it with our leading edge capabilities in blade design and testing to create a highly efficient turbine. The design builds on extensive feedback from customers and leverages the strengths of our existing designs, enabling wide commonality with our current offerings and passing savings in operations to our customers. This is our fourth new turbine that the technology team has designed, developed and launched in the last three years. We continue to progressively optimize our equipment and are leveraging our New Product Development process to introduce improved turbines with shortened development cycles.”
The S111 program will have its first prototype operational in late 2013 and serial production will begin in 2014. With the launch of the new S111 - 2.1 MW today Suzlon is officially making the turbine available for sale.
In addition to being backed by Suzlon’s award-winning safety program and service team, the S111 customer will further benefit from a 10-year all-inclusive service and warranty program.
S95 Power Curve improved additional two per cent: Also being introduced today is Suzlon’s improved IEC Class II S95 – 2.1MW turbine with an improved power curve offering an additional two percent performance advantage. Ideal for medium wind sites, Suzlon’s S95-2.1 MW turbine equipped with blades developed by Suzlon Blade Technologies was introduced in 2011. The S95 utilizes industry standard components, including proven DFIG technology, and is closely aligned with the successful S88 - 2.1 MW workhorse turbine which currently boasts over 2,500 installed turbines in 13 countries.