The first Haliade-X 12 MW wind turbine prototype will be installed at Maasvlakte-Rotterdam (NL) this summer.
GE Renewable Energy and Future Wind (a Joint Venture between Pondera Development and SIF Holding Netherlands) signed an agreement to this effect on 16 January. The deal includes five years of testing and a 15-year full service Operation and Maintenance agreement.
Onshore Testing
The Haliade-X 12 MW prototype will be installed onshore to facilitate access for testing. During the initial period of operations, it will allow GE Renewable Energy to collect data needed to obtain a Type Certificate, a key step in commercialising what will be the most powerful offshore wind turbine in the world in 2021.
Activities in Rotterdam to prepare the site for future installation have just begun. The nacelle of the Haliade-X 12MW prototype will be assembled in Saint-Nazaire (France), while the three 107 m-long LM Wind Power blades will be manufactured in Cherbourg (France), and the tower sections will be produced in Seville (Spain). All components will be shipped to Rotterdam, where pre-assembly work and installation will take place.
Competitive Source of Clean Energy
This prototype in Rotterdam is part of the $ 400 (€320) million investment in the Haliade-X development announced by GE Renewable Energy in March 2018 to help reduce offshore wind's cost of energy in order to make it a more competitive source of clean, renewable energy.
