Gamesa's blade manufacturing facility in Albacete, Spain (Credit: Gamesa)
On May 28, Gamesa, a Spanish wind turbine manufacturer, has completed assembly of the main parts (tower, nacelle and blades) of Spain’s first prototype offshore wind turbine, which has been installed at the Arinaga Quay in Gran Canary Island.
Installation of the tower, nacelle and the three blades, which were shipped from Bilbao port to the Canaries, began in the middle of April with the tower assembly work. The tower measures 90 metres in total and is made by Windar (a joint venture between Gamesa and Daniel Alonso).
The nacelle, made in Tauste (Zaragoza), measures over 12.5 metres long and is 4 metres tall and wide. It weighs 72 tonnes. Once the nacelle was hoisted onto the tower, work began to assemble the three blades, each of which measures 62.5 metres long and weighs 15 tonnes, making them the longest blades ever produced and transported in Spain. This work finished this morning.
Gamesa will now begin the turbine’s electrical assembly and grid connection work with a view to putting it into operation in the third quarter of the year and achieving certification in the months thereafter. This would enable installation of the initial offshore units in 2014.
This offshore system, with a rotor diameter of 128 metres and a modular, redundant design, ensures reliability and maximises energy output. Gamesa’s G128-5.0 MW offshore turbine is equipped with the technology Gamesa has proven and validated in its 4.5 MW system, plus the know-how and experience acquired during the 4.5 MW’s rollout. The company invested more than half a million engineering hours in the turbine’s design process.