The Port of Vancouver USA has received a shipment of wind turbine components that included the longest wind turbine blades ever to enter the West Coast of the U.S. and transported across North America to date. The delivery is a joint effort between turbine manufacturer Goldwind Americas and wind project owner Potentia Renewables.
The port received a total of nine wind turbines, including blades, nacelles, generators, hubs, tower sections and other sub-components.
Eight of Goldwind’s GW155/4.2 MW turbines arrived on the MV Star Kilimanjaro. There are four complete turbines featuring Goldwind’s 76-meter blades and four additional turbines of the same model with blades arriving on later shipments.
“Wind manufacturers have kept us busy this spring and summer moving wind energy components,” says Julianna Marler, CEO of the Port of Vancouver USA.
“We couldn’t do this work without incredible partnerships with companies like Goldwind, as well as ILWU Local 4, Local 40, Local 92 and the river and bar pilots who are still at work every day moving cargo. In this challenging COVID-19 environment, the port has been functioning well, and I am incredibly thankful for everyone’s dedication in making this possible,” she adds.
The blades for Goldwind’s GW155/4.2 MW turbines were manufactured in and shipped from China. Goldwind Americas, the company’s North American subsidiary, specializes in the sales, supply, operations and maintenance of Goldwind’s Permanent Magnet Direct Drive (PMDD) wind turbine generators. The company employs over 100 local individuals and currently operates 26 wind farms across nine U.S. states, Canada and Panama. Globally, Goldwind has 60 GW (approximately 35,000 wind turbine units) operating in 24 countries on six continents.
The blades and components will travel to Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, Canada to Potentia Renewables’ Golden South Wind Energy Project, located on 34,000 acres of leased agricultural land. Potentia is a Toronto-based developer, owner and operator of solar and wind energy assets. The Golden South Wind Project will utilize Goldwind’s latest PMDD turbines and will generate approximately 900,000 MWh of electricity annually.
The project broke ground in 2019 and is expected to open in 2021.
Once unloaded from the ship, the blades and other major components will be moved to laydown space at the port’s Terminal 2 and Terminal 5. From there, they will be transported by Totran Transportation Services over the span of several months to Saskatchewan, Canada.
The port will eventually handle a total of 50 full turbines – a combination of the GW 136/4.2 and GW 155/4.2 MW models – for the Golden South Wind Project. Four additional ships carrying turbines will arrive later this summer and fall. In total, Goldwind will import more than 750 large-scale components through the Port of Vancouver USA.
Photo: Goldwind’s 76 m blades at the Port of Vancouver USA
