GE's 2.5-120 brilliant turbine harnesses the power of the Industrial Internet to analyze tens of thousands of data points every second, providing short-term predictable power and communicating seamlessly with neighboring turbines, service technicians and operators. Popular Science magazine featured GE’s integrated wind energy storage technology in part four of its series on 'America’s Road to Energy Independence.'
Integrating the battery into the wind turbine allows wind farm operators to reap the benefits of energy storage without the high costs of farm-level battery storage installation. This revolutionary configuration integrates GE’s advanced Durathon Battery technology with three software applications. The resulting intelligent system enables power producers and the wind turbines themselves to make data-informed decisions and provide short-term predictable power.
“Combining energy storage and advanced software at the turbine level helps tackle wind’s most inherent challenge: its variability," said Keith Longtin, general manager of GE’s renewable energy business. "With short-term energy storage and GE’s advanced forecasting algorithms, we can help improve wind power’s predictability efficiently and more cost-effectively.”
When wind speed increases quickly, the grid cannot always absorb the extra wind power produced. GE’s Ramp Control App allows the brilliant turbine to capture “wasted” wind power and store it in the battery. GE engineers created three battery-enabled software applications that integrate seamlessly with the wind turbine to provide enhanced wind power availability. Wind developers and operators can select the application or combination of applications that best suits individual site needs.