Vestas to expand Danish plant for 15MW offshore wind turbine nacelle production

Vestas plans to expand one of its Danish factories ahead of starting assembly-line production of nacelles for its 15MW offshore wind turbine next year.

It will modify and expand its nacelle factory at the Port of Lindø on the southern Danish island of Funen to accommodate the larger components needed for the V236-15.0MW nacelles.

The company said it was too early to quantify the cost of the modifications to the factory.

The news comes as Siemens Gamesa announced it will begin manufacturing nacelles and blades at a new plant in northern France. 

Vestas currently produces nacelles for its V164-10MW and V174-9.5MW offshore wind turbines at Lindø.

It has announced conditional orders or preferred supplier agreements to supply its V236-15.0MW turbine to offshore wind farms planned off the coasts of Germany and the US, with a combined capacity of more than 2.8GW.

Vestas is currently producing a prototype nacelle ahead of turbine installation at the Østerild test centre in Denmark in the second half of this year. Specialists are currently developing, testing and assembling the prototype nacelle at Lindø.

Meanwhile, blade moulds for the 15MW turbine have been developed at Vestas’ factory in Lem, western Denmark, and the first 115.5-metre blades are being manufactured in Nakskov in the south of the country. Its blades are set to undergo testing at Fraunhofer IWES’s facility in Bremerhaven, Germany.

Vestas unveiled its V236-15.0MW turbine exclusively with Windpower Monthly in February 2021.