Offshore wind turbine manufacturer GE Renewable Energy has said that its Haliade-X offshore wind turbine prototype in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, has been operating for two years making it the first 10+ MW offshore wind turbine to achieve this milestone.
The prototype was first commissioned in November 2019 at 12 MW. Since then GE Renewable Energy has optimized the performance to uprate the prototype to 13 MW and 14 MW.
"Over the past two years, the Haliade-X has received multiple certifications, including the 12 MW, 13 MW, 13.6 MW and Typhoon certifications. The GE Renewable Energy team has also started certification measurements on the Haliade-X 14 MW, which is the first offshore wind turbine in the world to operate at 14 MW," GE Renewable Energy said.
One 14 MW turbine can generate up to 74 GWh of gross annual energy production, saving up to 52,000 metric tons of CO2, which is the equivalent of the emissions generated by 11,000 vehicles in one year, GE said. All the electricity generated by the Haliade-X prototype is purchased by Eneco, a Dutch utility company.
Jan Kjaersgaard, CEO of Offshore Wind at GE Renewable Energy, said: “We’re pleased to announce that our Haliade-X prototype has reached its two-year operational milestone. Over the two years, we have learned a lot from operating the prototype intensively in a windy and harsh environment. We continue to innovate and develop our Haliade-X technology, and with 5.6 GW of customer commitments so far, it is clear that we are addressing our customers’ needs, enabling them to deliver clean energy to consumers around the world.”
Dogger Bank, a giant 3.6GW offshore project being built in three phases in the UK, will feature Haliade X turbines.
The project, owned by SSE, Equinor, and Eni, will see Dogger Bank A and B feature 190 Haliade-X turbines and together with Dogger Bank C, is due to become the largest offshore wind farm in the world upon completion. For the first two phases of the Dogger Bank project, GE will deliver 190 Haliade-X 13MW offshore wind turbines, split evenly at 95 turbines for each of the two phases.
For Dogger Bank Phase C, expected to be 1.2 GW, the same as the first two, will have fewer wind turbines installed. Namely, GE will deliver an “uprated” version of the Haliade-X turbine type, with a 14MW capacity.
GE Renewable Energy will also supply 62 Haliade-X turbines for Vineyard Wind 1, the first utility-scale offshore wind installation in the U.S.