CARIBBEAN FLAIR FOR POMA LEITWIND
An innovative project with typhoon-resistant rotor blades was realised in the Caribbean
20/05/2021:The French-Italian partnership of POMA-LEITWIND has successfully completed the repowering of the Total wind farm installing six typhoon-class LTW80 turbines. The project is the first to feature this enhanced version of LTW80 (1.65 MW Hh48 class I A Tropical cyclone condition) turbines, each with a hub height of 48m and an installed capacity of 1.65MW, complete with newly developed and certified blades, as well-advanced condition monitoring system.
The ambitious project presented different key challenges. First, the POMA-LEITWIND team had to engineer a solution that offered long-term performance over the operational lifetime of the wind farm, in compliance with relevant standards, and often exposed to challenging conditions, such as during very strong winds and tropical storms. The solution?
The new LS39-H blade, designed for use on the ‘typhoon’ version of the LTW80 wind turbine, regarded as one of the most reliable on the market. For customers in regions prone to hurricanes, typhoons and tropical storms the new blade technology helps reduce levelised cost of energy through use of modern multi-megawatt turbines. Guadeloupe is regularly hit by tropical storms and typhoons between June and November. The blades are designed and manufactured to withstand exposure to extremely high winds, with gusts of up to 250km/h (155mph) and 20 years of operation. The loading capacity and safety of the new blades has been tried and tested carefully by the US Wind Technology Testing Centre in Boston, Massachusetts.
The new wind turbines have also been engineered to respond to rapid changes in wind direction, which can occur during typhoons. During such high winds, heavy rains and flooding, the turbines are switched off, without having any impact on the grid, reducing the recurring risk of electrical grid failure. The first of the new turbines has been in operation since January 2021, with the installation of the remaining five turbines taking place in March 2021. An advantage of using POMA-LEITWIND turbines for wind farm repowering projects is that fewer turbines can be deployed, reducing installation, operating and maintenance costs than the former turbines at the site. The turbines range from 42 to 100m in diameter, 28 to 100m in tower height and come in rated capacities of up to 3MW. The six LTW80 wind generators are expected to produce a total of circa 23.000 MWh/year of energy, supplying Guadeloupe with locally sourced wind energy.