Renewable Revolution

Siemens*, or at least the company it has commissioned to make the video above, knows how to make a wind power advertisement.

One of the key takeaway impressions people seem to have after visiting a wind turbine up close (or even going to the top of one) is how entirely awesome and majestic these giant machines are. They’re staggering in their height and power.

And I’m sure offshore wind turbines are even more impressive, especially the 6-megawatt ones and 7-megawatt ones.

In this new Siemens video, all of this is excellently portrayed in cinematic style — not your typical “green” or cleantech advertisement.

Since Siemens is the company behind this excellent contribution to cleantech messaging and wind turbine branding, I thought I’d share more about what it has been up to in this space. Here are a few of the company’s recent wind power highlights:

1.Siemens To Fullfil 267 MW Wind Order In Washington

2.Largest Federal Wind Farm In US Contract Awarded To Siemens

3.Siemens Opens World’s Largest R&D Test Center For Wind Turbine Technology

4.Siemens To Provide 80 Wind Turbines For Giant German Offshore Wind Power Plant

5.Siemens CEO: Cleantech Is A “Vital Part Of Our Business” (VIDEO)

6.World’s Largest Wind Turbine Rotor Goes Online

Together with other wind power leaders, it should be noted that the cost of wind power has come down tremendously in recent years, from over 30˘/kWh 10 years ago to as low as 4˘/kWh today.  Notably, this cost dropped has largely been brought on by making wind turbines larger and larger, more and more majestic.

wind turbines are getting bigger and bigger

While the cost optimization from making onshore wind turbines larger and larger seems to be hitting a limit, larger offshore wind turbines may provide useful benefits for the quite different offshore wind environment. Hence the 6- and 7-MW wind turbines. Simply look above at how a 7-MW wind turbine compares to an Airbus A380 with a wingspan of 80 meters to get an idea of how humungous these machines are.

*Full Disclosure: This post was supported by Siemens through Be On media. That said, I wouldn’t have covered it if I didn’t think it was worth covering, and nobody from Siemens or Be On had any influence over what I wrote above.

About the Author:
Zachary Shahan is the director of CleanTechnica, the most popular cleantech-focused website in the world, and Planetsave, a world-leading green and science news site. He has been covering green news of various sorts since 2008, and he has been especially focused on solar energy, electric vehicles, and wind energy for the past four years or so. Aside from his work on CleanTechnica and Planetsave, he's the Network Manager for their parent organization – Important Media – and he's the Owner/Founder of Solar Love, EV Obsession, and Bikocity. To connect with Zach on some of your favorite social networks, go to ZacharyShahan.com and click on the relevant buttons.

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/10/11/wind-power-awesomeness/#H9rCY8HX0DBMWMck.99

I, A. G. Gelbert, am convinced Zachary Shahan is a trustworty man of high integrity.