GE Renewable Energy has announced plans to develop the largest and most powerful offshore wind turbine: the Haliade-X. The company will invest $400 million in it over the next three to five years.
The Haliade-X will be manufactured by LM Wind Power and will have a capacity of 12 MW. The turbine will be capable of producing 45 per cent more energy than the existing, most powerful offshore wind turbines. It will additionally be the most efficient wind turbine in the ocean.
Design
The design of the Haliade-X's offshore wind turbine is what makes it unique. The combination of a larger rotor (220 metres), longer blades (107 metres) and a higher capacity factor makes Haliade-X less sensitive to variations in wind speed, increasing predictability and the ability to generate more power at low wind speeds. Haliade-X can achieve more annual energy production (AEP) than any other offshore wind turbine even in low wind conditions.
This 12 MW ocean wind turbine can also generate 67 GWh annually, which is 45% more AEP than the most powerful machines on the current market, and twice as much as the Haliade 150-6MW. One Haliade-X 12 MW can generate enough clean power to supply 16,000 households . Based on a 750 MW wind farm and an estimated AEP, the Haliade-X 12 MW could produce enough power for up to 1 million households.
Wind Energy
Jérôme Pécresse, CEO of GE: "It took the wind power industry more than 20 years to install the first 17 gigawatts of offshore wind power. Now more than 90 gigawatts will be installed in the next 12 years. The Haliade-X embodies GE's ambition to contribute to this growth and will introduce a new standard in terms of the cost of wind power."
Beyond the new standard, GE expects more profitability for customers. "The Haliade-X 12 MW offers significant savings in offshore wind turbine manufacturing, installation cycle times, service and repairs, thanks to its simplified process and intelligent components. Although the Haliade-X 12 MW offshore wind turbine is well suited to high-to-medium wind speed environments, its larger capacity can produce energy even at lower wind speeds, increase profits and drastically reduce levelled energy costs.
With fewer wind turbine machines and offshore foundations installed, in addition to shorter cycle times and simplified operation, the Haliade-X 12 MW generates robust savings on total project costs over the life of a wind farm. an average of $26 million per turbine per 100 MW compared to Haliade 150 - 6 MW.
Digital tools (based on GE's Predix platform) are currently being developed exclusively for the offshore environment with an operational approach that helps customers perform remote diagnostics, improve time management (less time at sea) and optimise operations."
GE Renewable Energy
GE has now installed more than 400 gigawatts of wind power, both onshore and offshore. The company plans to install the first instance of the Haliade-X in 2019. By 2021, the giant wind turbine should actually be ready to be shipped to customers.
Source: GE Renewable Energy.
