GE Haliade-X 14.7 MW-220 turbine obtains full DNV type certificate

GE Renewable Energy (Paris, France) announced on Dec. 15 that the Haliade-X, a 12 megawatt+ (MW) wind turbine, has received a full type certificate for operations up to 14.7 MW from independent certification body DNV (Høvik, Norway). This type certification, which follows an earlier certification that the Haliade-X could operate at up to 13.6 MW, provides independent verification that these turbines will operate safely, reliably and according to design specifications; according to GE, this also makes the Haliade-X the most powerful turbine with a full type certification.

The first use of the certification will be for the 3.6-gigawatt (GW) Dogger Bank Wind Farm in the U.K., which will become what is reported to be the largest offshore wind farm in the world when it is complete. The certification can be used at up to 14.7 MW and will be applicable for the 87 14 MW turbines that will be used at Dogger Bank C. The wind farm is a joint venture between SSE Renewables (Perth, U.K.), Equinor (Stavanger, Norway) and Vårgrønn (Stavanger). Due to its size and scale, the site is being built in three consecutive phases: Dogger Bank A, Dogger Bank B and Dogger Bank C.

The process of certifying the Haliade-X 14.7 MW-220, which builds on the proven Haliade-X platform, involved a series of tests on a prototype located in Rotterdam, a port city in the Netherlands. The Haliade-X prototype has been extensively tested and validated since 2019.

“At DNV, we forecast 2 TW [terawatts] of grid installed offshore wind capacity by 2050,” Kim Sandgaard-Mørk, executive vice president for renewables certification at DNV, says. “This development is also linked to larger turbines like GE’s Haliade-X. Continued increases in turbine, blade and tower size will lead to improvements in the capacity factors.”

Launched in 2018, GE’s Haliade-X offshore wind platform was claimed to be the first 12 MW+ turbine available. It set a new benchmark in lowering offshore wind’s levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and it is making offshore wind energy a more affordable source of renewable energy. One GE Haliade-X 14.7 MW-220 offshore wind turbine can generate up to 76 gigawatt-hours of gross annual energy production, providing enough clean energy to power the equivalent of 20,000 European households and save up to 53,000 metric tons of CO₂.

The Haliade-X prototype first began operating in November 2019.  Since then, it has set several world records in terms of continuous power output in one day. According to Vincent Schellings, chief technology officer (CTO) for offshore wind at GE Renewable Energy, the ability to operate and test the Haliade-X prototype over several years has provided significant learnings that have enabled GE to provide the first turbine fully certified at 14.7 MW-220.

“Experience is the best teacher,” Schellings says, “and in the past three years our engineers have learned a great deal about how to maximize the performance of the Haliade-X. This full type certification validates our ability to translate those lessons into more performance for customers using offshore wind to help mitigate climate change.”