In December 2012 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) commenced test operation at its Yokohama Dockyard & Machinery Works of a large-scale wind power generation system that adopts a hydraulic drive train.
The test operation is a part of the project launched in September last year to develop a hydraulic drive train system for offshore wind turbines, which is supported by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). Leveraging the test results, MHI will accelerate its development of an offshore wind power generation system in the 7MW class, with installation and operation slated to begin at Hunterston, in the UK, within the current year. A mass-produced commercial model will be targeted for market launch in 2015. The system is based on an existing MWT100 gear-driven wind power generation system that was retrofitted with the new hydraulic drive train. The retrofitting involved replacement of the step-up gear by the Digital Displacement Transmission hydraulic drive train. MHI developed the new hydraulic drive train, with support from NEDO, based on the digitally controlled hydraulic technologies of Artemis Intelligent Power, Ltd. of the UK, a venture company acquired by MHI in 2010.
The test operation is a part of the project launched in September last year to develop a hydraulic drive train system for offshore wind turbines, which is supported by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). Leveraging the test results, MHI will accelerate its development of an offshore wind power generation system in the 7MW class, with installation and operation slated to begin at Hunterston, in the UK, within the current year. A mass-produced commercial model will be targeted for market launch in 2015. The system is based on an existing MWT100 gear-driven wind power generation system that was retrofitted with the new hydraulic drive train. The retrofitting involved replacement of the step-up gear by the Digital Displacement Transmission hydraulic drive train. MHI developed the new hydraulic drive train, with support from NEDO, based on the digitally controlled hydraulic technologies of Artemis Intelligent Power, Ltd. of the UK, a venture company acquired by MHI in 2010.
