Offshore wind turbine manufacturer and developer MHI Vestas announced on Wednesday that its flagship V164 9.5 megawatt (MW) offshore wind turbine, the world’s most powerful wind turbine, has been awarded an S class type certificate, paving the way for installations to begin in late 2019.
The race to produce the world’s largest and most powerful wind turbine has been an ongoing battle and currently, the next landmark will see MHI Vestas replace its own record. MHI Vestas earlier this year supplied two of its 8.4 MW wind turbines, fine-tuned to 8.8 MW, to the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC) in Aberdeen Bay, Scotland. Additionally, MHI Vestas’ uprated 8 MW turbine can sometimes reach 9 MW, but only when specific site conditions are met.
The company will continue to out-do itself in the short-term, announcing this week that its 9.5 MW flagship V164 wind turbine has passed final certification and will now move towards installation at sites in late 2019. The certification was awarded a year after the company announced its 9.5 MW turbines which are larger than the mammoth London Eye Ferris wheel.
“This is the culmination of years of hard work and is something we are extremely proud of,” said MHI Vestas Chief Technology Officer, Torben Larsen. “The type certificate provides our customers with the certainty and assurance that the 9.5 MW turbine will deliver on its promise.”
“Announcing the world’s most powerful turbine and then receiving final certification one year later is no small achievement,” added Head of Product Management, Henrik Baek Jorgensen. “This is a very important chapter in the growing legacy of the V164.”
However, MHI Vestas’ competitors are already nipping at its heels, including GE Renewable Energy, which in March of this year unveiled its monster 12 MW Haliade-X, which measures in at 260 meters to the tip compared to a ‘measly’ 187 meters tall for MHI Vestas’ V164-9.5 MW. Capable of powering up to 16,000 European households per wind turbine, the Haliade-X is the long-awaited move into double-digit figures and towards the necessary power to economically and efficiently make offshore wind a necessary dominant force in the world’s energy mix.
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