EWT has installed a direct drive 0.5MW turbine at the Thorne Farm site in Devon recently.
This has seen the Dutch company gain traction in the market, with its 500kW, 61m tip DW52 turbine, now its 50th to be installed in the UK.
The DirectWind 52/54-500kW was developed in response to market demand for sites with low to moderate wind speed. This direct drive technology enables sites that would otherwise have been lost at the initial stages. This is due primarily to the low cut-in speed of 2.5m/s.
Porterledge Renewable Limited (Project developer) has been quoted as saying;
"We originally earmarked the site for a 330kW turbine with 33-metre rotor diameter and a tip height of 53 metres, availability of the 330kW machine came to an end prior to planning permission so we looked for the machine closest in tip height while still in the 500kW turbine class. The EWT DW52 500kW with its tip height of 61m made for an easy route through planning with the bonus of a 60% increase in yield over the 330kW turbine.”