World’s Longest 12 Megawatts Capacity Wind Turbine Blade Being Tested in Northumberland

Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult will have the benefit of testing the longest world wind turbine blade stretching 107 metres long. Designed by LW Wind Power, the wind turbine blade is engineered for use with the Haliade-X turbine by GE Renewable Energy and rises 260 metres after full installation.

Rigorous tests

The facility at Blyth, Northumberland will see the blade put into some of the most extremely demanding tests to ensure that it can operate for years without issues in deep global waters. In future, three similar blades will also be put into the same test in a Rotterdam prototype testing facility.

Compared to an A380 aircraft over-all wingspan, the wind turbine blade is much larger and a remarkable fete in the wind energy industry.

Digital functionalities

 The turbine is a huge investment running into millions. It’s expected to drastically reduce the expensive cost of offshore wind equipment. Apart from a rotor that’s 220 metres in length, it comes digitally enabled. Its top capacity factor, long blade and huge rotor attributes guarantee that the wind turbine blade will be most insensitive to variations of wind speed, boost predictability while generating lots of energy even when the speed of wind isn’t much.

Lots of clean power

The wind turbine once installed will be able to produce unequalled energy yearly at very low wind levels. In fact, the 12 megawatts turbine will be able to offer 67 GW of power every year, ensuring that over 16,000 homes in Europe enjoy sufficient clean power depending on the state of wind as normally experienced along the German North Sea. According to the annual energy output, a typical 750 megawatts Haliade-X 12 megawatts wind farm could power over a million homes sufficiently.

Developing technology

Wind turbines like most renewable energy components are constantly being improved and designed to incorporate new technologies while their size is also going up. For instance, Vestas MHI Offshore Wind released their V164-10.0 turbine, the first commercial turbine of its kind in 2018. V164-10 has blades stretching about 80 metres, each weighing 35 tons with a 187-metre long tip.