Wind Energy Giants: Vestas Announces 15 MW Offshore Turbine
Aarhus, Denmark / Münster, Germany - With the announcement of a Vestas 15 MW offshore turbine, the race for the most powerful wind turbine between GE Renewable Energy, Siemens Gamesa and Vestas has entered the next round.
Vestas V236-15 MW launch scheduled for 2024 - prototype coming in 2022
The new Vestas offshore flagship will have a capacity of 15 MW. This puts Vestas on par with German-Spanish manufacturer Siemens Gamesa, which announced an offshore turbine with a capacity of up to 15 MW in May 2020. The new Vestas offshore turbine is said to have a rotor area of 43,000 m2, which is the current top value in an industry comparison (Siemens Gamesa SG 14-222 DD; approx. 39,000 m2, GE Haliade-X14 MW: approx. 38,000 m2). By combining the wind industry's current largest rotor with the highest rated power, the turbine delivers a high annual energy yield, which Vestas quotes at 80 million KWh (80 GWh/year). Assuming an annual electricity consumption of 4,000 kWh per household, in mathematical terms, this is enough, to supply around 20,000 European households with electricity from one turbine and save more than 38,000 tons of CO2.
The turbine's high output and energy yield can reduce the number of turbines at the farm level, which can improve the business case of projects. Compared with the Vestas V174-9.5 MW offshore turbine, the number of turbines for a 900 MW offshore wind farm is reduced by 34 to 60 WTGs, while the energy yield is five percent higher, according to Vestas. The turbine features excellent part-load production, resulting in more stable power generation, Vestas added. The first prototype of the V236-15.0 MW is expected to be installed in 2022, with series production scheduled to begin in 2024.
Siemens Gamesa: prototype installation of 14+ MW WTGs in 2021
In May 2020, Siemens Gamesa unveiled the SG 14-222 DD offshore wind turbine. The turbine's output reaches 14 MW and can be increased up to 15 MW with the power boost function. The SG 14-222 DD continues Siemens Gamesa's offshore direct drive concept, which the company has built up over five product generations since 2011. The prototype of the new 14 MW+ SG 14-222 DD offshore wind turbine is scheduled for construction in 2021, with commercial launch planned for 2024.
GE Renewable Energy is already testing 13 MW prototype in Rotterdam
GE Renewable Energy is already operating a prototype of its flagship Haliade X offshore wind turbine at its Rotterdam site, and type testing by independent certifier DNV-GL for the 12 MW variant has been completed. Meanwhile, GE is testing the prototype turbine with an expanded capacity of 13 MW. GE expects to receive type certification for the 13 MW variant of the Haliade-X in the first half of 2021. The 13 MW version of the turbine is to be used in the first two phases of the Dogger Bank wind farm in the UK. The total of 190 turbines in the two phases are to be installed from 2023. As it says on the GE website, the Haliade X turbine will also be offered with a capacity of 14 MW.
Source: IWR Online, 12 Feb 2021
