GE Vernova cleared to build up to 18MW offshore wind prototype
US manufacturing giant looks set to build one of world’s most powerful offshore wind prototypes
GE Vernova has been given the green light to build an up to 18MW prototype offshore wind turbine that would be one of the most powerful ever produced by a Western manufacturer.
But Georgine Wind, a Norwegian subsidiary of GE Vernova, has now secured permission to build an up-to 18MW turbine in the Nordic country.
The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, NVE, announced today that it has granted Georgine Wind permission to set up the turbine in an industrial area in Gulen municipality on the country’s westernmost tip.
NVE said the Gulavind wind farm test project, as it is known, aims to further technology development for offshore wind.
Gulavind will consist of a turbine with an expected annual electricity production of 55GWh, said NVE – the annual energy consumption of around 2,750 Norwegian households.
This is the largest wind turbine to be licensed in Norway, said Ann Myhrer Østenby, section manager at NVE. The turbine may stretch up to 275 metres in height; and up to 250 metres in rotor diameter.
Current versions of the Haliade-X with ratings of 12-14MW are being deployed at major projects off the UK and US, including at the 3.6GW Dogger Bank site in the British North Sea.