General Electric Company announced late last week its planned installation of the world’s largest turbine in the Dutch city of Rotterdam. Called the Haliade-X, it is a windmill prototype that could produce up to 12 megawatts of electricity.
“In our fight against climate change we need a massive expansion of the number of windfarms at sea,” Arno Bonte, a council member for Sustainability and Energy and the one responsible for the Rotterdam’s Energy Transition, said in a statement.
“We are delighted that GE has selected the Port of Rotterdam as the test location for the Haliade-X 12 MW, which is the largest wind turbine in the world and can, therefore, help us accelerate the clean energy transition.”
Haliade-X: The World’s Largest Turbine
Currently, the Haliade-X is just a prototype series for GE. If successful, it will be the first of many similar projects around the globe. Upon completion, the company plans on installing the wind turbine offshore. However, the company will first build it on land for testing purposes.
After completing the turbine construction, GE engineers will spend the next five years monitoring Haliade-X and making necessary design adjustments. Standing at 850 feet, the turbine will generate enough electricity to power 15,000 homes.
The turbine’s blades, at 350 feet long, require GE to build a new factory in France just to construct them.
According to GE, the turbine’s construction will begin sometime this year. The company is currently working on securing a certificate enabling them to sell the turbine by 2021 commercially. Should everything go as planned, GE aims to build the giant turbines all over the North Sea and help bring clean, sustainable energy to thousands of homes.
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