Alstom, a French multinational power company, has completed the installation of its new-generation offshore wind turbine, the 6-MW Haliade 150, off Ostend harbor at the Belwind site in Belgium. This is the world’s largest offshore wind turbine ever installed.
Thanks to its 150-meter (492 ft.) rotor (with blades stretching 73.50 meters [240 ft.] ), the turbine is more efficient since its yield is 15% better than existing offshore turbines, enabling it to supply power to the equivalent of about 5,000 households.
Following successful tests performed on the first Haliade 150 commissioned in March 2012 at Le Carnet site in France, this installation will help to determine how exactly the machine behaves in the offshore environment for which it was designed and developed.
The 61-meter (200 ft.) jacket has been set on top of pillars which have been sunk to a depth exceeding 60 meters. Then the 3 elements of the 78-meter (225 ft.) tower were gradually assembled on the jacket. In all, the nacelle towers at a height of over 100 meters above sea level. The overall weight of the turbine and its structure totals 1,500 tonnes.
This new-generation wind turbine operates without a gearbox (using direct drive). Thanks to a permanent-magnet generator, there are less mechanical parts inside the device, making it more reliable and thus helping to reduce operating and maintenance costs. Lastly, the Haliade 150 features Alstom’s PURE TORQUE design, which protects the generator by diverting unwanted mechanical stress towards the tower, thereby optimizing performance.
Now, with the world’s largest offshore wind turbine installed, Alstom has reached an important milestone in the 6-MW Haliade 150 industrialization process. The construction of the two factories in Saint-Nazaire (nacelles and generator) is well underway, and will end around summer 2014. The construction of the two Cherbourg factories (blades and towers) will follow.