GE Renewable Energy and Future Wind (a Joint Venture of Pondera Development and SIF Holding Netherlands) have signed an agreement to install the first Haliade-X 12 MW wind turbine prototype in Maasvlakte-Rotterdam during the coming summer. The deal includes five years of testing and a 15-year full service o0peration and maintenance agreement.
This Haliade-X 12 MW prototype will be installed onshore to facilitate access for testing. During the initial period of operations, it will allow GE to collect the data needed to obtain a Type Certificate, a key step towards commercialising the product in 2021.
Activities in Rotterdam to prepare the site for future installation have begun. The nacelle of the prototype will be assembled in Saint-Nazaire, France, while the three 107 metre-long LM Wind Power blades will be manufactured in Cherbourg, and the tower sections will be produced in Seville, Spain.
This prototype installation is part of the $400 (€320) million investment in the Haliade-X development announced by GE Renewable Energy in March last year to help reduce offshore wind's cost of energy production in order to make it more competitive.
