Envision unveils a two-blade wind turbine with remarkable efficiency

The energy transition has pushed the need to innovate constantly to gain efficiency. This has moved technological frontiers further, reducing prices and increasing efficiencies (more energy density, for example).  Now the Chinese company Envision has revealed the two-blade onshore wind, which has been kept secret under trial for 500 days.

According to the company, achieving this required overcoming a series of technical challenges. Now, after 500 days of stable operation, the company reported remarkable results, with an availability rate of 99.3%, a mean time between trips (MTBT) of 2,444 hours, and equivalent full-load hours of 3,048 annually.“Field performance confirms that the two-blade turbine is on par with traditional three-blade machines operating at the same site,” said the company in a press release.

The Turbine is the Model X onshore platform, which features a modular design and high-speed DFIG (Doubly-Fed Induction Generator) technology with enhanced stability.

Lou Yimin, Senior Vice President and Chief Product Officer at Envision Energy, explained that some of the key challenges in this model were excessive system vibration and load imbalance, aspects that have been overcome. The company has been working since 2012 on a wind turbine featuring two blades, rather than the traditional three blades, which has allowed research and development that laid the ground for this achievement.

Some other details, such as the generation capacity of the turbine, were not released, and it is unclear if the company plans to upscale the manufacturing capacity for this model. However, Envision hinted at this, commenting that “all parameters were systematically planned, tested, and validated to ensure technological maturity and readiness for commercial deployment.”

Numerous companies have tried, and some have tested two-blade turbines. One of the main reasons why this is relevant is that these models require much less material and could be more efficient in manufacturing and installation costs due to fewer parts to mobilise. Envision highlighted that modular deployment is one of its strengths.