A wind turbine blade from LM Wind Power, measuring 107 m long, has arrived at the port of Blyth in the UK for testing at Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult’s facilities.
The blade, designed to operate from GE’s Haliade-X 12 MW turbine, arrived at the port on board Symphony Shipping’s vessel Symphony Space.
Once at the test facility, the blade will undergo a range of testing procedures to study its ability to withstand peak wind conditions.
The Haliade-X nacelle, meanwhile, is on its way to Rotterdam, the Netherlands from Saint-Nazaire, France on board BigLift Shipping’s heavy lift vessel Happy Sky. A video of the loading in Saint-Nazaire can be seen here.
Three other 107 m blades will soon be shipped to the prototype site in Rotterdam.
According to GE, both the nacelle and blades will initially be installed onshore for testing, which will allow the company to collect the necessary data to obtain the type certificate – a key step in the commercialisation of the turbine.
