Vestas to install V236-15.0MW prototype offshore wind turbine in Denmark

Vestas will install its V236-15.0MW prototype offshore wind turbine at the Østerild test site in western Jutland, Denmark next year.

Once installed, the 280-metre-high turbine will be the tallest and most powerful in the world, surpassing GE’s 14MW Haliade-X prototype in the Netherlands.

Installation is due to take place in the second half of 2022 and the turbine is scheduled to produce first power in the fourth quarter of that year.

Vestas launched the V236-15.0MW — which has a 236-metre rotor diameter and a power rating of 15MW — in February 2020. It aims to begin serial production in 2024.

Anders Nielsen, Vestas’ chief technology officer, said: “Getting the prototype turbine in the ground will underline how the V236-15.0 MW will raise the bar in terms of technological innovation, industrialisation and scale in the wind energy industry.”

Vestas has already produced blade moulds for the prototype at its blade factory in Lem, western Jutland. It will start making the 115.5-metre prototype blades later this year at its offshore blade factory in Nakskov on the Danish island of Lolland.

The nacelle will be developed and assembled at Vestas’ offshore nacelle factory in the Lindø port of Odense on the Danish island of Funen. The manufacturer will then pre-assemble and transport all large components to Østerild for the prototype installation.

The prototype will be designed to facilitate easy access for testing before installation. The main prototype components will already have been tested and verified at Vestas’ and its partners’ test facilities.

Vestas will need to collect data for a type certificate — which certifies that the turbine performs safely and as advertised — ahead of starting serial production in 2024.

Since launching the turbine earlier this year, Vestas has secured pre-selected tenderer status for EnBW’s 900MW He Dreiht He Dreiht (900MW) Offshorenorth of Borkum, Germany, Europe Click to see full details wind farm in the German North Sea.