Reports related to this article:
Project(s): View 3 related projects in PECWeb
Plant(s): View 1 related plant in PECWeb
Released February 24, 2021 | SUGAR LAND
en
Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Danish wind energy company Vestas Wind Systems A/S (OMX:VWS) (Aarhus, Denmark) is pushing the bar for offshore wind performance by announcing the world's most powerful turbine at 15 megawatts (MW).
The V236-15.0 MW comes as the company recently completed its acquisition of its joint venture turbine manufacturing partner, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI). The green light from the European Commission (EC) allowed Vestas to acquire MHI's 50% share of the MHI Vestas' joint venture for 2.5% of Vestas' shares, worth roughly 709 million euro ($850 million), and a seat on the Board of Directors. With a record-breaking 236-metre rotor diameter, a single V236-15.0 MW turbine is capable of producing around 80 gigawatt hours per year, enough to power around 20,000 European households. In carbon terms, it can offset more than 38,000 tonnes of CO2 annually, which Vestas claimed was the equivalent "to removing 25,000 passenger cars from the road every year".
It maintained that the key attraction to using the turbine for investors is that it offers 65% higher annual energy production than the company's V174-9.5 MW turbine and "for a 900-MW wind park it boosts production by 5% with 34 fewer turbines. The first V236-15.0 MW prototype is expected to be installed in 2022, while serial production is scheduled for 2024.
Henrik Andersen, Vestas President and chief executive officer, said: "Offshore wind will play an integral role in the growth of wind energy and the V236-15.0 MW will be a driver in this development by lowering levelised cost of energy thus making our customers more competitive in offshore tenders going forward".
Competition for the largest offshore turbine crown is fierce. The largest turbine in play today is the 12-MW Haliade-X from GE Renewable Energy. The company started testing a 13-MW prototype version at the end of last year, and it has secured major contracts for its use in the world's largest proposed offshore windfarm, Dogger Bank, in the U.K. In December, Industrial Info reported that oil and gas major Equinor (NYSE:EQNR) (Stavanger, Norway) and SSE Renewables had agreed financing for the first two phases topping £6 billion ($8 billion). The project is split into three phases--Dogger Bank A, Dogger Bank B, and Dogger Bank C--each with a capacity of 1.2 gigawatts (GW). The 13 MW GE Haliade-X 1 turbines will be used for the first two phases while the company recently announced that an "upscaled" 14-MW version of Haliade-X wind turbine will be used for the third phase. Turbine rival Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) also has a 14-MW offshore turbine in the works and last summer received an order for 100 units of its SG 14-222 DD turbine model from innogy, which expects to use them for its 1.4 GW Sofia Offshore windfarm in the U.K. starting in 2024.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Our European headquarters are located in Galway, Ireland. Follow IIR Europe on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn For more information on our European coverage send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.eu or visit us online at Industrial Info Europe.
The V236-15.0 MW comes as the company recently completed its acquisition of its joint venture turbine manufacturing partner, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI). The green light from the European Commission (EC) allowed Vestas to acquire MHI's 50% share of the MHI Vestas' joint venture for 2.5% of Vestas' shares, worth roughly 709 million euro ($850 million), and a seat on the Board of Directors. With a record-breaking 236-metre rotor diameter, a single V236-15.0 MW turbine is capable of producing around 80 gigawatt hours per year, enough to power around 20,000 European households. In carbon terms, it can offset more than 38,000 tonnes of CO2 annually, which Vestas claimed was the equivalent "to removing 25,000 passenger cars from the road every year".
It maintained that the key attraction to using the turbine for investors is that it offers 65% higher annual energy production than the company's V174-9.5 MW turbine and "for a 900-MW wind park it boosts production by 5% with 34 fewer turbines. The first V236-15.0 MW prototype is expected to be installed in 2022, while serial production is scheduled for 2024.
Henrik Andersen, Vestas President and chief executive officer, said: "Offshore wind will play an integral role in the growth of wind energy and the V236-15.0 MW will be a driver in this development by lowering levelised cost of energy thus making our customers more competitive in offshore tenders going forward".
Competition for the largest offshore turbine crown is fierce. The largest turbine in play today is the 12-MW Haliade-X from GE Renewable Energy. The company started testing a 13-MW prototype version at the end of last year, and it has secured major contracts for its use in the world's largest proposed offshore windfarm, Dogger Bank, in the U.K. In December, Industrial Info reported that oil and gas major Equinor (NYSE:EQNR) (Stavanger, Norway) and SSE Renewables had agreed financing for the first two phases topping £6 billion ($8 billion). The project is split into three phases--Dogger Bank A, Dogger Bank B, and Dogger Bank C--each with a capacity of 1.2 gigawatts (GW). The 13 MW GE Haliade-X 1 turbines will be used for the first two phases while the company recently announced that an "upscaled" 14-MW version of Haliade-X wind turbine will be used for the third phase. Turbine rival Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) also has a 14-MW offshore turbine in the works and last summer received an order for 100 units of its SG 14-222 DD turbine model from innogy, which expects to use them for its 1.4 GW Sofia Offshore windfarm in the U.K. starting in 2024.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Our European headquarters are located in Galway, Ireland. Follow IIR Europe on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn For more information on our European coverage send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.eu or visit us online at Industrial Info Europe.
