GE’s huge Haliade-X 14 MW offshore wind turbine is now operational

GE Renewable Energy today announced that its Haliade-X offshore wind turbine prototype is now running at 14 megawatts in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. This means that GE Renewable Energy is now the first to operate a wind turbine at a power output this high.

Battle to be the biggest

There’s a competition going on between manufacturers for most powerful offshore wind turbine.

In February this year, Electrek reported that Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas announced the launch of a 15 MW offshore wind turbine, thus dethroning the Haliade-X 14 MW as the world’s largest offshore wind turbine.

But the 15 MW Vestas hasn’t yet begun to spin: The first V236-15.0 MW prototype is expected to be installed in 2022, while serial production is scheduled for 2024.

The 15 MW Vestas will be used by German energy company EnBW for He Dreiht, a 900 MW, subsidy-free offshore wind farm in the German North Sea. Those turbines are expected to be installed in the second quarter of 2025, with full commissioning anticipated for the fourth quarter of the same year.

So GE’s successful operation of its Haliade-X 14 MW prototype is a pretty big deal. According to GE, one turbine can generate up to 74 GWh of gross annual energy production, saving up to 52,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide – the equivalent of the emissions from 11,000 vehicles in one year.

Haliade-X 14 MW’s next steps

The Haliade-X 14 MW will make its commercial debut at the Dogger Bank C offshore wind farm, which is off the northeast coast of England. Together with Dogger Bank A and Dogger Bank B, it’s due to become the largest offshore wind farm in the world upon completion. GE Renewable Energy will provide 87 units of the Haliade-X 14 MW for Dogger Bank C.

Vincent Schellings, chief technology officer of GE Renewable Energy Offshore Wind, said:

We’re pleased to announce that the Haliade-X prototype is the first turbine in the industry to successfully run at 14 MW. When we first commissioned our Haliade-X prototype in November 2019 at 12 MW, we made a big leap forward in the industry. Over the past two years we have learned a lot about operating and optimizing the performance of our Haliade-X platform, enabling us to uprate the Haliade-X platform to 14 MW today.

Read more:

• Vestas takes GE’s ‘world’s largest offshore wind turbine’ title
• World’s largest offshore wind farm to use giant 14MW turbines
• World’s largest offshore wind turbines chosen for first commercial project

Photo: GE Renewables