GE is developing a massive 18 MW offshore wind turbine

GE Vernova is developing a 17-18 megawatt (MW) Haliade-X offshore wind turbine, CEO Scott Strazik confirmed during the company’s investor conference late last week.

GE Vernova is GE’s portfolio of energy businesses, including Renewable Energy, Power, Digital, and Energy Financial Services. According to GE, which announced in December that GE Vernova’s global headquarters will be in Cambridge, Massachusetts, “it’s planned for a tax-free investment-grade spin-off from GE in early 2024.”

“We’re getting a very positive reception from the market with our 17-18MW Haliade-X variant of what we’re shipping this year,” said Strazik. Specific details about the larger Haliade-X are not yet on GE’s website.

GE Renewable Energy announced in December that its Haliade-X, the first wind turbine capable of more than 12 MW, received a full type certificate for operations up to 14.7 MW from DNV, the world’s largest independent certification body, which officially made it the world’s most powerful wind turbine.

And the global race to develop gigantic offshore wind turbines is well under way, because in January, Chinese industrial manufacturer CSSC Haizhuang unveiled the rotor hub and nacelle for an 18 MW offshore wind turbine prototype.

Haizhuang’s H260-18MW will have a rotor diameter of 853 feet (260 meters). To put that in perspective, that rotor diameter is as long as the height of the Haliade-X, which has a rotor diameter of 722 feet (220 meters). The H260-18MW turbine will have 420-feet-long (128-meter-long) blades with a sweep area of 570,487 square feet (53,000 square meters).

Wind turbine manufacturers keep building larger turbines because the more power a turbine captures, the more the cost of electricity is reduced.

Read more: A new study about seabirds and offshore wind turbines may surprise you

Photo: GE Renewable Energy

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