GE uncovers plans to develop Haliade-X offshore Wind Turbine
GE Renewable Energy unveils plans to develop powerful offshore wind turbine namely the Haliade-X. The offshore wind farm features a 12 MW direct drive generator and an industry leading gross capacity factor of 63%.
The Haliade-X is likely to produce 45% more energy than any other offshore turbine available and GE is likely to invest more than $400 million over the next three to five years in the development and deployment of the Haliade-X.
John Flannery who is the Chairman and CEO of GE claimed that “We want to lead in the technologies that are driving the global energy transition. Offshore wind is one of those technologies and we will bring the full resources of GE to make the Haliade-X program successful for our customers.”
Towering 260 meters above the sea more than 5 times the size of the the iconic Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France, the Haliade-X 12 MW features a 220-meter rotor. LM Wind Power has designed and manufactured the 107-meter-long blades set to be one of the longest offshore blades to date and is set to be longer than the size of the soccer field. One Haliade-X 12MW turbine will generate up to 67 GWh per annum which will suffice for clean power for up to 16,000 households per turbine and up to 1 million European households in a 750 MW windfarm configuration.
Jérôme Pécresse, President and CEO of GE Renewable Energy said, “The renewables industry took more than 20 years to install the first 17 GW of offshore wind. Today, the industry forecasts that it will install more than 90 GW over the next 12 years. This is being driven by lower cost of electricity from scale and technology. The Haliade-X shows GE’s commitment to the offshore wind segment and will set a new benchmark for cost of electricity, thus driving more offshore growth.”
The operation and maintenance of the wind farm is simplified as in the ability to produce more power from a single turbine that implies a smaller number of turbines in the total farm that translates to less capital expenditure for the balance of plant and lessened risk in project implementation as the installation of cycle time is reduced thereby simplifying operation and maintenance of the wind farm.
GE’s Haliade-X platform is designed to offer greater efficiency in generating power from the wind that is available. With a 63 percent gross capacity factor, the Haliade-X 12 MW is five to seven points above the current industry benchmark. Therefore, it will produce more energy per MW installed, which will significantly increase returns for customers.
GE Renewable Energy is relying on an unprecedented collaboration across the GE portfolio, leveraging the knowledge of GE’s Onshore wind team, with 50,000 turbines in the field the blade expertise of LM Wind Power; the GE Power and GE Aviation engineers for peer reviews of component and systems design; the Global Research Center for control systems and component validation; and GE Digital for supporting digital modelling, analytics and app development. The program is a GE-wide effort.