DNV GL awards Type Certificate to Siemens Gamesa for its 8 MW Offshore Wind Turbine

DNV GL has awarded Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy with the Type Certificate for its eight megawatt (8 MW) offshore wind turbine SWT-8.0-154. Fully compliant to the international wind turbine standard IEC-61400-22, the turbine is now ready for immediate market implementation.

New technologies like large offshore wind turbines with an output rate of 8 MW are vital to support the growing wind energy industry in reducing the levelised cost of energy. Siemens Gamesa’s optimised turbine has a rated power increase of 14% compared to the previously certified turbine variant. Increasing rated capacity offers one of the biggest potential for cost reduction in offshore wind, through corresponding reduction in MW balance of plant and operational costs as well as significantly higher capacity factors.

“DNV GL is committed to continually push the technological limits of turbine technology and contributing to the rapid upscaling of offshore wind turbines,” says Kim Mørk, Executive Vice President for Renewables Certification at DNV GL. “We are excited to see that turbine manufacturers like Siemens Gamesa are developing bigger and more reliable turbines faster than anticipated a few years ago.

“We are satisfied to have received the Type Certificate for the 8.0-154 wind turbine ahead of time. The efficient certification process is a result of the longstanding relationship between Siemens Gamesa and DNV GL which allows us to have a reduced time to market for our new offshore wind turbine,” says Johnny Lillelund, Head of Certification, Siemens Gamesa Renewables Energy.

Axel Dombrowski, Director and Head of Mechanical Engineering for Renewables Certification at DNV GL, commented: “Over the past five years Siemens Gamesa and DNV GL have worked very intensively on different type certification projects. It is a great pleasure to see the results of our intensive collaboration and continuously improved project management that help to achieve the time to market targets and hereby helping the wind industry in reaching the goals for reducing the levelised cost of energy.”

The 8.0-154 turbine is an upgrade of the 7.0-154, where an introduction of new cooling system, new controller and upgrade of the generator enables the higher power output. DNV GL has also been contracted to work on the next upgrade of the 8 MW turbine.