This Offshore Wind Turbine Is Quite The Monster

When France declared its renewable energy target for 23 percent by 2020, a number of wheels (or turbines if you will) began turning to make that happen. In 2011, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced that France would be spending over $13.5 billion in offshore wind farms in Northern France. As one would imagine, a number of companies jumped at the call for tenders, including a consortium led by EDF Energies Nouvelles and using Alstom as the turbine manufacturer. Their approach seems to fall under the “go big or go home” mentality, as they focus efforts on the “next generation” of turbines, which translates into much, much bigger.

We’re now starting to see the fruit of that investment as Alstom plants its massive 6 megawatt Haliade 150 offshore wind turbine into the ground for testing at Carnet in the Loire-Atlantique. Obviously an offshore wind turbine put on dry land seems counter-intuitive, but the location was carefully chosen to easily collect data in an area with geological characteristics similar to the eventual submarine environment.

image via Alstom

The initial turbine will undergo a series of year-long tests which require lots of measurements and manipulations which are much easier to conduct onshore. The objective is to analyze the turbine’s power curve to see its capacity for producing electricity efficiently, as well as to test all the individual systems, including the electrical equipment, generator, software, and mechanical components.

If all goes well, offshore testing will begin this fall, where performance and maintenance will be further tested under actual operating conditions. To facilitate easy access, the central block of the turbine comes with a helipad so workers can quickly hop on over in a helicopter.

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