The GE Haliade X offshore wind turbine was unveiled in 2018. Its rotor diameter was described as being “five times the size of the Arc de Triomphe” with a diameter of 220m. The first prototype turbine is currently being constructed in the Port of Rotterdam, Netherlands, and will have its 107m long blades installed over the coming weeks.
Over the past few months, the flagship machine’s mammoth components have been arriving from factories across Western Europe at the project site, located on the quayside of what is the continent’s biggest port. Progress of the construction can be viewed using the Port of Rotterdams live webcams:
The 107-metre blades (the longest ever produced) are about to be shipped from GE-owned LM Wind Power’s facility in Cherbourg, France, to the prototype site. Another blade was shipped to the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult’s (OREC) R&D facility in Blyth, UK, for HALT (highly accelerated life-time) testing, along with a drive train and converter set, which will be tested under real-world operational conditions.
the prototype turbine is expected to be operated for a five-year testing programme, with data from the turbine being fed back to GE’s engineering teams, as well as OREC’s team in the UK. GE expect the turbine to be operational in early October, subject to potential delays around weather or logistics”.