Vestas’ 8 Megawatt “World’s Most Powerful Wind Turbine” Getting A Workout In UK & Belgian Waters

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

The world’s most powerful turbines, Vestas’ V164-8.4 megawatt (MW), are getting a workout already, with the final blades installed at the Burbo Bank Extension and the 8 MW behemoths chosen for 370 MW wind farm off the coast of Belgium.

The V164-8.4 MW is a mammoth beast, generating 8 MW with 80 meter blades and a height of 187 meters. The blade also set a world record back in October, 2014, generating 192 MWh worth of electricity in a 24-hour period.

Late last month, Vestas announced that the 8 MW behemoths installed at the 258 MW Burbo Bank Extension offshore wind farm, located off the coast of Liverpool, in England, had begun generating electricity.

“First power is a key milestone for us because it proves that every part of the transmission and generation equipment is successfully working,” said Claus Bøjle Møller, Burbo Bank Extension Programme Director. “We’re progressing well with the construction of the wind farm thanks to a huge effort from our construction team and our contractors.

Announced on Wednesday, Vestas confirmed that the 32nd and final 8 MW turbine had been lifted into place at Burbo Bank Extension, signalling the completion of the project.

vestas-offshore-4

“The installation of the first V164-8.0 MW offshore project represents a major milestone in the history of MHI Vestas, as well as our business partners,” said Flemming Ougaard, COO of MHI Vestas. “I am proud of the commitment and excellent work of the entire installation team at MHI Vestas and the team from A2Sea and DONG Energy who worked with us on this project. Now our focus turns to the commissioning of the turbines and bringing them into full operation, prior to handing the project over to DONG Energy.”

The announcement was followed up a day later with the news that MHI Vestas Offshore Wind would provide 44 of the V164-8.4 MW to the 370 MW Norther offshore wind power plant in Belgium, approximately 23 kilometers off the coast of Zeebrugge. The project, a joint venture between Elicio and Boreas, is set to be commissioned in 2019, and upon completion will be Belgium’s largest wind power plant.

vestas-offshore-3“We are extremely pleased that Elicio, Eneco and Mitsubishi Corporation chose MHI Vestas Offshore Wind using a competitive tender process,” said MHI Vestas Offshore Wind CEO Jens Tommerup. “Historically, MHI Vestas has had a strong footprint in the Belgium market and we know that our technology is well suited to conditions in the region.”

“MHI Vestas also has a strong partnership with Eneco, who we have worked with to deliver the 129 MW Eneco Luchterduinen and 120 MW Princess Amalia projects in the Netherlands, while we look forward to building our relationship with Elicio N.V. going forwards. Being selected for the Norther project underlines the customer’s confidence in the 8.0 MW platform and of MHI Vestas, and represents a big step forward in our partnership.”

Norther will be able to produce enough clean electricity to supply 400,000 Belgian households, and will go a long way to helping the country meet its target of generating 13% of its energy needs from renewable energy sources by 2020.


Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.

Latest CleanTechnica TV Video


Advertisement
 
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.

Joshua S Hill

I'm a Christian, a nerd, a geek, and I believe that we're pretty quickly directing planet-Earth into hell in a handbasket! I also write for Fantasy Book Review (.co.uk), and can be found writing articles for a variety of other sites. Check me out at about.me for more.

Joshua S Hill has 4403 posts and counting. See all posts by Joshua S Hill