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February 21, 2023, 14:15 GMT
Keystone and GE collaborated to design the 89m tall tower for the GE 2.8-127 wind turbine and have received a 40-year component certification from TÜV NORD
DENVER, COLORADO, UNITED STATES, February 21, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Keystone Tower Systems and GE Renewable Energy today announced a major milestone in the development of tapered spiral welding with the installation of the first commercial spiral-welded wind tower on a 2.8MW GE turbine. The installation is the result of a multi-year collaboration between Keystone and GE to design and produce spiral-welded towers for GE wind turbines.
The tower was manufactured at Keystone’s factory in Pampa, Texas, located in the Texas Panhandle. The brownfield factory was built at an idled facility that formerly made drilling equipment for the oil and gas industry and will ultimately bring back nearly 200 manufacturing jobs to the region. When at full capacity the factory will be capable of producing approximately 1GW of towers per year. This increase in domestic manufacturing capacity is coming online at a critical time with a significant expansion in need for wind turbine components driven by the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.
This collaboration with Keystone is an example of GE’s commitment to working with partners to bring new and innovative technology to the wind industry and advance domestic manufacturing.”— Vic Abate, GE Renewable Energy’s CEO, Onshore Wind
Keystone’s tapered spiral welding process brings the speed, quality, and consistency of automated manufacturing to wind tower manufacturing. Keystone designs and builds its own custom spiral welding manufacturing equipment. The manufacturing process is designed to utilize coil steel, enabling a new segment of highly efficient domestic steel mills to supply into the wind industry.
While this first factory is in a fixed location, Keystone is also developing mobile factories capable of building taller towers directly at the wind site, as detailed in the U.S. Department of Energy’s May 2022 publication, “How Spiral Welding is Revolutionizing Wind Turbine Manufacturing.”