ge – Future Wind

Futurewind celebrates inauguration Haliade-X 12 MW

On 17 and 19 December 2019 Pondera celebrated the inauguration of the World’s largest wind turbine: the GE Haliade-X 12 MW. “As developer and co-owner together with Sif – in the Futurewind project – we are proud to have contributed to this important new step in wind turbine technology” said Hans Rijntalder, Director of Pondera. He continues “And we would like to congratulate GE with this outstanding achievement. No need to tell that this step is important for the market development in Offshore Wind.”

During the official opening ceremony on 17 December, it was announced that Dutch energy company Eneco is set to purchase all the electricity generated by GE’s Haliade-X 12MW offshore wind turbine prototype. On 19 December we invited clients and relations to see and to hear more about this breakthrough technology.

According to GE, the Haliade-X 12MW prototype set a new world record by being the first wind turbine ever to generate 262MWh of clean energy in 24 hours, enough to power 30,000 households in the region.

Over the next five years, the Haliade-X prototype will undergo a series of tests to validate its power curve, loads, grid performance and reliability. The tests will also allow GE to validate operational procedures for installation and services teams and obtain a Type Certificate for the Haliade-X in 2020. Commercialization is planned by 2021, with serial production set to start in the second half of 2021.

17 december, official world wide press moment

19 december, Pondera Haliade-X client event

GE Haliade-X 12 MW supplies power

The GE Haliade-X 12 MW has delivered its very first kilowatt hours. The prototype of the world’s most powerful offshore wind turbine has now entered its test phase on the Maasvlakte in Rotterdam. The data collected during this phase will be used to obtain the required certificate in 2020. Subsequently, the serial production of the largest and most efficient wind turbine can start.

Key figures for the Haliade-X 12 MW

Capacity: 12 MW
Rotor diameter: 220 m
Tip height: 245 m
Blade length: 107 m
Annual energy yield: 46.3 GWh
Wind turbine swept area: 38,000 m²
(These numbers are based on the SDE wind report)

General information

Pondera Development and SIF Holding, together with GE Renewable Energy, are developing the Haliade-X on the Maasvlakte 2 in Rotterdam. The development of the innovative Haliade-X project in Rotterdam has been made possible thanks to Pondera’s extensive knowledge and many years of experience in Dutch wind energy legislation and regulatory policy. The increase in size and scale of (offshore) wind turbines is an important step in generating more sustainable energy, accelerating the energy transition and thereby limiting the effects of climate change.

The offshore wind turbine prototype will be installed onshore in order to ease access for testing and monitoring purposes. This will also allow GE to collect the data needed to obtain the Type Certificate, a key step in commercializing the Haliade-X.

The Haliade-X can generate 46.3 GWh of electricity annually. That is enough power for 15,900 European households and thus saves 28.1 kilotons of CO₂. In the fall of 2019, the Haliade-X will generate renewable energy on the SIF site on the Maasvlakte.

Installation of GE Haliade’s blades has started!

We are happy to announce that the installation of the first two blades of the GE Haliade-X 12 MW prototype has started. The third blade has yet to arrive at the Maasvlakte Rotterdam.

Key figures for the Haliade-X 12 MW

Capacity: 12 MW
Rotor diameter: 220 m
Tip height: 245 m
Blade length: 107 m
Annual energy yield: 46.3 GWh
Wind turbine swept area: 38,000 m²
(These numbers are based on the SDE wind report)

General information

NACELLE INSTALLED ON GE HALIADE-X 12 MW TURBINE

The Nacelle of the largest offshore wind turbine in the world GE Haliade-X 12 MW has been successfully installed at the Maasvlakte in Rotterdam.

Key figures for the Haliade-X 12 MW

Capacity: 12 MW
Rotor diameter: 220 m
Tip height: 245 m
Blade length: 107 m
Annual energy yield: 46.3 GWh
Wind turbine swept area: 38,000 m²
(These numbers are based on the SDE wind report)

General information

GE UNVEILS THE FIRST HALIADE-X 12 MW NACELLE

GE Renewable Energy has unveiled the nacelle of the world’s most powerful offshore wind turbine, the Haliade-X 12 MW. This unit will be shipped in the coming weeks from Saint-Nazaire (FR) to Rotterdam (NL) to join the tower already built on the Maasvlakte 2.
The wind turbine blades, manufactured by LM Wind Power in Cherbourg, will be shipped to the prototype site to complete the installation.

The video below shows the Haliade-X nacelle rolling out of the factory:

Key figures for the Haliade-X 12 MW

Capacity: 12 MW
Rotor diameter: 220 m
Tip height: 245 m
Blade length: 107 m
Annual energy yield: 46.3 GWh
Wind turbine swept area: 38,000 m²
(These numbers are based on the SDE wind report)

General information

WORLD’S LARGEST WIND TURBINE BLADE IS LONGER THAN A FOOTBALL FIELD. HERE’S WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE

How long is the world’s largest wind turbine blade? Stretching 107 meters, the blade is longer than a football field and equal to 1.4 times the length of a Boeing 747. Using a different measure, it would take Usain Bolt, the fastest human and a world record holder in the 100-meter dash, close to 10 seconds to race from its root to its tip. It might also represent one of the largest single machine components ever built. Workers just popped the first one from its mold at an LM Wind Power factory in Cherbourg, France.

Three of these blades will form the rotor of GE’s Haliade-X 12MW, the world’s largest and most powerful offshore wind turbine, which is capable of powering 16,000 European homes. GE acquired LM Wind Power, the world’s largest designer and manufacturer of wind turbine blades, in 2017.

GE also recently laid the foundation for the first Haliade-X in Rotterdam, Holland. When complete, the prototype, which will stand on land, will be 260 meters tall from base to blade tips, and the rotor will sweep a circle with a diameter of 220 meters. The machine is expected to start producing electricity later this year.

The brand-new factory where LM Wind Power makes the massive blades for the Haliade-X 12MW is located on the banks of the English Channel in Normandy, just a short drive from the wide, sandy beaches where Allied troops landed on D-Day. LM Wind Power built the plant near Cherbourg’s industrial port to allow workers to load the blades onto ships and send them to their destination.]

Operating in three shifts, workers build the blades from a high-tech sandwich made from thin layers of glass and carbon fibers, and wood. They fuse everything together with a special resin.

GE Renewable Energy will put two blades through rigorous testing to demonstrate their ability to withstand more than 20 years of spinning offshore. Lukasz Cejrowski has been building wind turbine blades at LM Wind Power for more than a decade and oversees the company’s effort to build the 107-meter blade. Originally from Poland, he’s been living in Cherbourg since 2017, when LM Wind Power broke ground on the new factory. To him, the size of the blade is a matter of perspective. “When you spend some time with the blade, it doesn’t seem so big anymore. You get used to it,” he laughs. “Then again, after a hard day, I remind myself: If breaking a world record was easy, then everybody would do it, right?”

Bolt would agree.

PREPARING THE SITE FOR THE HALIADE-X 12 MW

Preparing the site that will host GE’s Haliade-X 12 MW, the most powerful offshore wind turbine in the world, to be installed in Maasvlakte-Rotterdam, Netherlands. HaliadeX 12 MW is currently being assembled at GE’s factory in Saint-Nazaire, France, while its three LM Wind Power-designed 107-metre blades are being manufactured in Cherbourg, France, and tower sections produced in Seville, Spain. All components will be shipped to Rotterdam, where pre-assembly work and installation will take place.

GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY AT FUTURE HALIADE-X 12 MW PROTOTYPE SITE IN ROTTERDAM

Future Wind (the Joint Venture between Pondera Development and SIF Holding Netherlands) organized a symbolic ground-breaking event that took place in Maasvlakte, Rotterdam, to celebrate the start of preparatory activities to host GE’s Haliade-X 12 MW prototype in Maasvlakte, Rotterdam. The first activities on the ground started early this year with the construction of the Haliade-X 12MW foundation, that will contain 50 piles that will be covered by a 28-meter long foundation plate. Activities to prepare foundation will continue until the arrival of Haliade-X 12 MW nacelle, blades and tower prototype parts later in the summer.

Alderman Arno Bonte joined the ceremony and stressed the importance of this project for the Municipality and the Port of Rotterdam. ”This special offshore wind turbine symbolises the transition from a fossil based economy towards an economy based on renewables. Wind energy at sea will be one of the main power sources in the Netherlands for the coming decades and the Rotterdam city and harbour is ready to play an important role in this transition.”

Hans Rijntalder and Diederik de Bruin, managers Future Wind “We are very pleased to accommodate the Haliade X-12MW, it marks a new step in offshore wind and supports the purpose of Sif and Pondera to encourage the improvement of the wind energy sector”.

Vincent Schellings, CTO and General Manager Product Management for GE’s Renewable Energy Offshore Wind business and leader of the Haliade-X 12 MW project said, “We are very excited about our prototype in Rotterdam, and we are on schedule to install the biggest and more powerful wind turbine in the world, that will contribute to make offshore wind energy more competitive.”

This 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 the Type Certificate in 2020 and ship the first commercial units in 2021.

GE’s Haliade-X 12 MW is currently being assembled at GE’s factory in Saint-Nazaire, France, while its three LM Wind Power-designed 107-metre blades are being manufactured in Cherbourg, France, and tower sections produced in Seville, Spain. All components will be shipped to Rotterdam, where pre-assembly work and installation will take place.

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.

Early this year GE Renewable Energy and Future Wind announced that they signed an agreement to install the first Haliade-X 12 MW wind turbine prototype in Maasvlakte-Rotterdam (NL) during summer 2019. The deal includes five years of testing and a 15-year full-service Operation and Maintenance agreement.

GE’S HALIADE-X 12 MW PROTOTYPE TO BE INSTALLED IN ROTTERDAM

The agreement signed with Future Wind includes five years of testing and 15 years of service
Installation of Haliade-X 12 MW will take place during summer 2019GE Renewable Energy and Future Wind (a Joint Venture between Pondera Development and SIF Holding Netherlands) announced today that they have signed an agreement to install the first Haliade-X 12 MW wind turbine prototype in Maasvlakte-Rotterdam (NL) during summer 2019. The deal includes five years of testing and a 15-year full service Operation and Maintenance agreement.This 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 commercializing the product in 2021.
Allard Castelein, CEO of the Port of Rotterdam said “We are proud that GE Renewable Energyand SIF are using our port as a test location to develop the most powerful offshore windturbine in the world. It confirms the port’s reputation and validates our focus on being an attractive partner for the offshore wind industry as it drives the energy transition.”

Alderman Bonte, responsible for Rotterdam’s Energy Transition, said “In our fight against climate change we need a massive expansion of the number of windfarms at sea. We are delighted that GE has selected the Port of Rotterdam as the test location for the Haliade-X 12 MW, which is the largest wind turbine in the world and can therefore help us accelerate the clean energy transition.”

John Lavelle, VP & CEO of Offshore Wind at GE Renewable Energy said “As we rapidly progress on assembling the Haliade-X prototype, this announcement is a critical step forward for GE and our customers. The port of Rotterdam has been a real partner and provides all the necessary conditions to test the Haliade-X in the most drastic weather conditions”.

Fred van Beers, CEO of Sif Holding Netherlands mentioned “we are very pleased to install the Haliade-X 12 MW on the Sif site in Rotterdam, supporting Sif’s ambition to remain at the forefront of developments in the offshore wind industry. The project also fits Sif’s ambition to become entirely CO2 neutral as the Haliade-X 12 MW will supply carbon-free energy to the electricity grid.

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 meter-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.

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.

MEET THE GE HALIADE-X 12 MW WIND TURBINE

Introducing the Haliade-X 12 MW, the most powerful offshore wind turbine in the world to date, featuring a 12 MW capacity (the world’s first), 220-meter rotor, a 107-meter blade designed by LM Wind Power, and digital capabilities. In addition to being the biggest offshore wind turbine, the Haliade-X will also be the most efficient of wind turbines in the ocean. Best of all, it’s capable of transforming more wind into power than any other offshore wind turbine today.

The Haliade-X 12 MW also features a 63% capacity factor*—five to seven points above industry standard. Each incremental point in capacity factor represents around $7 million in revenue for our customers over the life of a windfarm.

POWER MEETS EFFICIENCY

The offshore wind turbine design of the Haliade-X is what makes it unique.

The combination of a bigger rotor, longer blades and higher capacity factor makes Haliade-X less sensitive to wind speed variations, increasing predictability and the ability to generate more power at low wind speeds. The Haliade-X can capture more Annual Energy Production (AEP) than any other offshore wind turbine even at 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 market today, and twice as much as the Haliade 150-6MW. One Haliade-X 12 MW can generate enough clean power to supply 16,000 European households according to wind conditions on a typical German North Sea site.

A 750 MW Haliade-X 12 MW windfarm based on an estimated AEP, could produce enough power for up to 1 million households.

For more information: https://www.ge.com/renewableenergy/wind-energy/turbines/haliade-x-offshore-turbine