With the blade diameter measuring more than two football fields, GE Renewables’ Haliade X turbines are already the largest and most powerful in the world, capable of generating up to 14 MW of energy. The ability to press the concrete base of the turbine on site for direct transport to the final location at sea can build and deploy even larger systems.
It is expected that this approach could enable the production of much larger wind turbines because turbine producers will not be hampered by transport constraints.–today, the width of the base for transport reasons can not exceed 4.5 meters, which limits the height of the turbine. By increasing the altitude, the generation of power per turbine can also be significantly increased: for example, a 5 MW turbine of 80 meters produces about 15.1 GWh per year. The same turbine, which measures 160 meters, produces 20.2 GWh per year, an increase of 33%. The scale is expected to grow even larger, with new turbines reaching 260 meters and even more.
The first prototype of the Heliade X-turbine was commissioned just over a year ago in Rotterdam Port, the Netherlands. It will be the first wind turbine to deliver 288 megawatts of energy in 24 hours. That was perhaps enough to power 30,000 households in that area.
The new offshore Haliade X turbine has a capacity of 14 MW, 13 MW or 12 MW, a rotor of 220 meters, a blade of 107 meters and digital capabilities. It is not only the most powerful wind turbine in the world, but also has a capacity factor of 60-64% above the industry standard. The capacity factor compares how much energy was generated with the maximum that could be produced during a continuous full power operation during a specific period. Each incremental point in capacity factor represents approximately $ 7 million in revenue for the turbine owner during the life of a wind farm.
In October, the engine, which is also the most powerful offshore wind turbine currently operating, produced 312 megawatts of energy in a single 24-hour period. Engineers at GE Renewable Energy have spent the past year collecting data on the Rotterdam prototype to obtain a complete “type certificate” for the machine – a confirmation from an independent body, DNV GL, that the new turbine is safe, design reliably and to specifications. DNV GL awarded the certification to the offshore Haliade-X 12 MW.
“This is an important milestone for us as it provides our customers with the ability to obtain financing when they purchase the Haliade-X,” said Vincent Schellings, who is leading the development of the turbine for GE Renewable Energy. “Our ongoing goal is to provide them with the necessary technology to promote the global growth of offshore wind as it becomes an increasingly affordable and reliable source of renewable energy.” This is good business to be in: The International Energy Agency predicted that the cumulative investment in offshore wind would reach $ 200 billion by 2040.
This type of certification took place shortly after a part of the turbine – the 107 meter blade, which exceeds the length of a football field – received its own component certification. The process of certification of the Haliade-X 12 MW involves separate testing of the blades at facilities in the USA and the UK and tests involving the prototype in Rotterdam.
GE designed the Haliade-X to generate 12 megawatts, but tests in Rotterdam revealed that it could exceed its original target, up to 13 megawatts. The new certification specifically involves the 12 MW; testing of the Rotterdam prototype with 13 MW power delivery is now underway, with separate certification expected in the first half of 2021.
Next to that milestone? Installation. GE Renewable Energy signed the first contract for the Haliade-X 13 MW, and agreed to supply 190 of the machines to Dogger Bank A and Dogger Bank B, the first two phases of the expectation that it will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm , located in the North Sea, about 130 kilometers off the Yorkshire coast of England. It is planned that the farm will be completed in 2026, and is expected to generate 3.6 gigawatts of electric power – enough to supply 4.5 million British households.
The challenges associated with manufacturing larger wind turbines do not stop at the base. The 100+ meter long blades also have to be manufactured as a single part – they cannot be assembled from multiple sections – and the strength of fiberglass-reinforced plastic reaches its physical limits to withstand increasing wind forces.
Today, the blades are manufactured using extremely expensive advanced molds that are not only extraordinarily large but also have to be very intricate to effectively cool and harden the fiberglass-reinforced blade. In the future, large format composite 3D printing technologies could enable cost-effective production of these blades – and perhaps even direct production of 100+ meter long carbon fiber reinforced blades. Clearly, these features are not available today, but companies like Ingersoll and Themrwood have shown that the size of large format composite 3D printing systems has no inherent limitation.
Back in 2018, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind Energy Technologies Office and Advanced Manufacturing Office partnered with another large-format composite 3D printing industry, Cincinnati Inc., to apply additive manufacturing to the production of large molds for wind turbine blades.
3D printing is seen as a very attractive option for large products such as wind turbine blades, which are very labor intensive, mainly done by hand to lay down large amounts of composite material, which makes the shapes very expensive and timely.
In the wind power industry, the use of additive production to directly produce direct blades from CAD can also mean optimal wind turbine blades per tower in a wind farm. This means that the blades of each turbine can one day be optimized for the individual location, wind and turbulence patterns at each location on the farm and on each other farm. Additive manufacturing is the technology that makes it all possible at a lower price point and with shorter lead times.
It will not happen soon, so do not hold your breath. AM still offers significant limits in terms of final material density and quality, process repeatability and cost. Not to mention the technologies to manufacture objects as large as a single component have not yet been developed. However, as turbines get bigger and bigger (and it will happen), their production processes must necessarily include 3D printing.
