GE Renewable Energy has announced it is now generating up to 14MW of power from the prototype of its Haliade-X wind turbine at Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
The company first unveiled the design in March 2019, stating it would have a generation capacity of 12MW, and began testing the prototype the following November. It was subsequently certified for operation at 13MW in January 2021.
The turbine, which has 107-metre-long blades and a tip height of 260 metres, will make its commercial debut at the 1.2GW Dogger Bank C offshore wind project in the North Sea. Alongside phases A and B, Dogger Bank will become is set to become the world’s largest offshore windfarm with a total capacity of 3.6GW.
Dogger Bank C was originally expected to feature 100 of the turbines but GE said the latest uprating to 14MW means the project will now only require 87 units. The company said this reduction will not lower capital costs but also simplify operations and maintenance.
Vincent Schellings, chief technology officer, GE Renewable Energy Offshore Wind, said: “We’re pleased to announce that the Haliade-X prototype is the first turbine in the industry to successfully run at 14 MW. When we first commissioned our Haliade-X prototype in November 2019 at 12 MW, we made a big leap forward in the industry.
“Over the past two years we have learned a lot about operating and optimizing the performance of our Haliade-X platform, enabling us to uprate the Haliade-X platform to 14 MW today.”
Last month, Siemens Gamesa began installing the prototype of its SG 14-222 DD turbine at Osterild in Denmark. As the name indicates, the turbine has a generation capacity of 14MW and a rotor diameter 222 metres, with the blades measuring 108 metres long.
In February, Vestas revealed plans for a new 15MW turbine with 115-metre-long blades and a rotor diameter of 236 metres, whilst in August the Chinese firm MingYang Smart Energy announced an even more powerful 16MW turbine with 118-metre blades and a rotor diameter of 242 metres.