America’s First Offshore Windfarm gets power from a Massive Magnet 

Apr 02, 2016

In the city Nancy, France, engineers of GE’s Power Conversion have designed an innovative 6 MW generator, one of the largest ever built, provisioned with a permanent magnet rotor. The innovative design doesn’t have a gearbox and with less number of moving parts that could potentially break down would lead to easier maintenance. For offshore installations where unstable waters and high winds can delay a repair trip for days or weeks, low maintenance is important.

The generator weighs 150 tons, measuring 7.6 m in diameter and standing hundreds of feet above the waves. Haliade, a giant GE wind turbine provides rotational energy to the generator and converts it into electricity. The turbine is huge; its 150 m diameter rotor covers an area that could fit two big A380 double-decker planes. 

America’s first offshore wind farm near Block Island, Rhode Island will be its first commercial application project. It will produce enough electricity to power five thousand American homes. Till 2020, the offshore wind market is bound to grow at the rate of twenty percent globally each year and GE wanted to be well-positioned to serve this industry. 

Source:http://www.gereports.com/this-massive-magnet-will-generate-power-at-americas-first-offshore-windfarm/