GE Renewable Energy’s Haliade-X prototype reaches two-year operational milestone

GE Renewable Energy announced today that its Haliade-X prototype in Rotterdam, a port city in the Netherlands, has been operating for two years, making it the first 10+ MW offshore wind turbine to achieve this milestone.

The prototype was first commissioned in November 2019 at 12 MW, which was a big leap forward in the industry. Since then GE Renewable Energy has utilized its expertise in operating and optimizing the performance of wind turbines to uprate the prototype to 13 MW and 14 MW.

Over the past two years, the Haliade-X has received multiple certifications, including the 12 MW, 13 MW, 13.6 MW and Typhoon certifications. The GE Renewable Energy team has also started certification measurements on the Haliade-X 14 MW, which is the first offshore wind turbine in the world to operate at 14 MW.

One 14 MW turbine can generate up to 74 GWh* of gross annual energy production, saving up to 52,000 metric tons of C0₂, which is the equivalent of the emissions generated by 11,000 vehicles** in one year. All the electricity generated by the Haliade-X prototype is purchased by Eneco, a Dutch utility company.

Jan Kjaersgaard, CEO of Offshore Wind at GE Renewable Energy, said: “We’re pleased to announce that our Haliade-X prototype has reached its two-year operational milestone. Over the two years, we have learned a lot from operating the prototype intensively in a windy and harsh environment. We continue to innovate and develop our Haliade-X technology, and with 5.6 GW of customer commitments so far, it is clear that we are addressing our customers’ needs, enabling them to deliver clean energy to consumers around the world.”

The Dogger Bank A and B wind farm off the north-east coast of England will feature 190 Haliade-X turbines and together with Dogger Bank C, is due to become the largest offshore wind farm in the world upon completion. GE Renewable Energy will also supply 62 Haliade-X turbines for Vineyard Wind 1, the first utility-scale offshore wind installation in the US.

GE Renewable Energy is committed to enable the energy transition. As part of that responsibility, the business is focused on supplying and maintaining a global fleet of renewable energy assets, helping reduce the cost of renewable energy, ensuring grid resiliency, efficiency, and reliability, and making renewable energy function in a more dispatchable fashion. GE Renewable Energy also supports the energy transition by pursuing a strategy that reflects a commitment to sustainable, circular design.

* Gross performance based on wind conditions on a typical German North Sea site
** According to EPA Greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator