New World Record for Electricity Generation from Wind Turbine

Presented by Vestas at the beginning of 2021, turbine V236-15.0 MW updated a new record for electricity generation from a single wind installation in one day, generating 363 MWh*h. The previous record was 359 MWh*h per day and was set in 2022 by an offshore wind turbine SG 14-222 DD with a nominal capacity of 14 MW produced by Siemens Gamesa. Earlier, the Haliade-X installation with a power rating of 13 MW manufactured by General Electric generated 312 MWh*h per day in 2020. The trend of increasing sizes and unit capacities of wind turbines is one of the main technological trends in the development of the global wind energy industry, firstly, this allows to reduce specific capital costs on wind farm construction, secondly by increasing the heights of turbine towers and rotor diameters, improving the efficiency of using WEU. In the end, all this leads to a reduction in the cost of electricity per unit (LCOE).

About the Turbine

In February 2021, Danish company Vestas, world leader in wind turbines for onshore (mainland) wind energy, presented a turbine V236-15.0 MW for offshore wind energy. 

Photo: V236-15,0 MW (source www.vestas.com)

For the creation of the turbine, Vestas bought a stake from Mitsubishi in the joint venture MHI Vestas, which specialized in manufacturing offshore wind turbines. After that, the V236 became the first offshore wind generator produced by Vestas under its own brand. Vestas introduced to the world at that time the most powerful wind installation in the world with a rotor diameter of 236 m, and the swept area is 43,742 square meters.

About the Project

A prototype V236-15.0 MW is installed at the National Test Center for Large Wind Turbines Osterild in Western Jutland, Denmark, where it undergoes extensive testing and checks to ensure reliability before full certification and serial production begins. Serial production of turbines is expected in

Works on the development and assembly of a prototype were carried out at Vestas' research and production facilities in Denmark. Blade shapes were developed at the Vestas factory in Lem, and blade prototypes with a length of 115.5 m were manufactured at Vestas' marine yard in Nakskov. The nacelle prototype was designed and assembled at Vestas' marine nacelle plant in Lindø Port in Odense.

One of the factors for the development of offshore wind energy is the use and creation of large-sized and powerful wind installations. For example, three manufacturers of wind turbines have already presented 4 turbines with a power rating over 15 MW, so it's likely that this record will be broken again soon.