Gamesa’s new offshore turbine comes together

Spain has significant wind energy potential but deep water off the country’s coast means development will probably depend on parallel development of deep-water foundations. Spanish turbine manufacturer Gamesa are however developing a 5 MW turbine that could fit the bill when the question of turbine selection comes to the fore. The turbine is a key element of the company’s business plan 2013-2015.

The G128-5.0 MW prototype’s blades, nacelle and tower have now been shipped from Bilbao to the Arinaga Quay on the south-east coast of Gran Canaria where the turbine will be assembled. It is due to commence operation in the third quarter of 2013, subsequent certification allowing the company to install an initial series of the turbine in 2014. Design certification for the turbine was obtained from DNV in late 2011, an endorsement that Gamesa claim “heralded a major leap forward in the system’s development, as a guarantee of the turbine’s launch, commercial rollout and manufacture in coming years”. In the medium to longer term Gamesa plan to develop even higher capacity machines in the 7 MW to 8 MW range.

Gamesa is included in the main international sustainability indexes: Dow Jones Sustainability, FTSE4Good and Ethibel, and has a truly global operation (90% of MW sales in 2011 were outside Spain) with production centres in the important wind markets of Spain and China, while also maintaining local production capacity in India, US and Brazil. The company has more than 25 GW installed in 40 countries and also provides operation and maintenance management services for turbines totalling over 18 GW capacity

Components for the turbine were produced at three separate locations in Spain. The blades were manufactured at a Gamesa plant in Aoiz (Navarre), each one 62.5m long and weighing 15 tonnes. They are thus the largest turbine blades ever produced and transported in Spain, and among the largest ever manufactured in Europe. The turbine itself was manufactured at the Tauste (Zaragoza) facility, vital statistics of the nacelle are 12.5m long, 4m tall and weighing 72 tonnes. The 90m high tower was manufactured by Windmar, a joint venture between Gamesa and Daniel Alonso.

Gamesa’s previous experience in the wind turbine market has been heavily drawn on with the 5 MW model and the company expects the turbine, with a rotor diameter of 128m and a modular, redundant design will ensure reliability and maximum energy output, based on technology proven and validated in their 4.5 MW system. Over half a million engineering hours were invested in the design process of the G128-5.0MW model.

By Peter Barker