Denmark reveals 20MW mammoth turbine prototype

The Danish Energy Agency has issued a certificate for the turbine prototype, which will be a third bigger than today’s mammoths with a power generation capacity of 21.5MW, a leap of more than 7MW.

This is more in terms of generation capacity than the Chinese model brought out last year by MingYang, which boasted 20MW.

In terms of physical size it is similar with MingYang’s, with a rotor diameter of 276 metres – more than two and a half times the length of a standard Premier League football pitch.

Siemens Gamesa has confirmed that its prototype is being tested at the Østerild Test Centre on the west coast of Northern Jutland in Denmark.

Run by the Department of Wind and Energy Systems, the centre can test up to nine turbines on nine stands simultaneously, with Vestas and Siemens Gamesa sharing ownership of four of the nine stands.

It claims to have some of the best wind conditions in the world for testing full-sized turbines before they enter the market.

Siemens Gamesa responded to Maritime Journal with a short statement:

“The installation in Østerild, Denmark, is a test facility partly funded by the European Commission. We will only decide whether we will ultimately install a new product in a commercial project after careful testing. However, we fundamentally believe in the offshore market and the expansion of capacities at sea must be implemented quickly and consistently to reach the ambitious climate targets. Our 14MW turbine has everything it needs for that.”

Neither the Danish Energy Agency nor Siemens Gamesa provided an answer to the question of whether there are enough vessels available that are capable of installing turbines of this size.