Key components for GE Renewable Energy’s 12-MW Haliade-X offshore wind turbine have been dispatched to the UK, and to the Netherlands, where the first unit is to be tested
The Haliade-X nacelle is on its way to Rotterdam in preparation for prototype testing onshore, in the Maasvlakte area in Rotterdam. Testing onshore will facilitate ease of access.
The testing process will allow GE Renewable Energy to collect data needed to obtain a type certificate, a key step in commercialising the turbine by 2021.
The nacelle was revealed for the first time at a ceremony at GE Renewable Energy’s production facility in Saint-Nazaire, France on 22 July 2019.
A second Haliade-X nacelle is also being assembled at Saint-Nazaire, prior to dispatch to the ORE Catapult test centre at Blyth, in the UK. The nacelle will be tested under actual operational conditions to reduce the time required to confirm its performance levels and reliability.
In parallel, the company has shipped the first Haliade-X 12-MW blade to the ORE Catapult test facility.
The 107-m long blade will undergo a range of tests designed to demonstrate its ability to withstand peak wind conditions.
Three other 107-m blades will soon be shipped to the testing site in Rotterdam for the prototype to be assembled.
“Shipping and testing the first components will keep us on track to commercialise the Haliade-X by 2021,” said GE Renewable Energy.
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