As their cost decreases and technology improves, renewables advance at the expense of fossil fuels. A few days ago, General Electric unveiled the most powerful offshore wind turbine in the world, capable of powering one or two homes for 24 hours with a single rotation.
Extraordinary characteristics
Possessing a larger rotor, longer blades (107 meters) and a higher capacity factor (making it less sensitive to variations in wind speed and increasing its ability to produce more energy at low speeds), the wind turbine Haliad-X of 13 MW can generate a gross annual energy production of between 64 and 74 GWh, which would lead to a reduction in emissions of CO2 52,000 tonnes over the same period, ie the equivalent of 11,000 vehicles withdrawn from service.
The surveys carried out for the prototype installed in Rotterdam showed that the giant wind turbine could produce 312 MW per day, i.e. an output 8% higher than that of the model Haliad-X of 12 MW, previous record holder.
While switching to devices of this size would obviously have some practical implications, experts believe that it would be possible to produce a large amount of energy with a small number of wind turbines, and therefore a reduced surface area. At full power, theHaliad-X of 13 MW would cover all of the daily electricity needs of an average American household in just 7 seconds. While a single rotation would suffice to power a British household for more than 48 hours.
For the moment, two large offshore wind farm projects using theHaliad-X were announced. Located 15 km from the coast of Massachusetts, Vineyard Wind (800 MW) will be the first of its kind on a commercial scale in United States, which will produce electricity for 400,000 households and reduce emissions of CO2 1.6 million tonnes per year. While at UK, the construction of Dogger bank (1.2 GW), the world’s largest offshore park, is about to start. Ultimately, this will supply electricity to up to 6 million homes, or the equivalent of 5% of the country’s demand.
A sector experiencing very rapid growth
When it comes to power generation, wind is one of the fastest growing sectors in the world, largely due to lower manufacturing costs. In the space of two decades, its production capacity on land and at sea has increased by almost 75 (from 7.5 GW in 1997 to 564 GW in 2018) according to theIRENA, which predicts that renewables will become even more attractive as large capacity batteries and energy storage facilities expand.
The amount of energy that can be obtained from the wind depends on the size of the wind turbine and the length of its blades, and the efficiency proportional to the dimensions of the rotor and the cube of the wind speed, General Electric put a lot onHaliad-X and its extraordinary characteristics.