The timing of the Haliade-X’s launch means that some of the first industrial-scale offshore wind farms built off the US could use GE’s 12MW turbine, says John Lavelle, chief executive for offshore wind at GE Renewable Energy.

On Thursday GE raised the curtain on its long-rumoured 12MW turbine, doubling the nameplate capacity of its currently available 6MW Haliade machines – which remain the only offshore turbines in place in US waters, at Deepwater Wind’s 30MW Block Island project.