Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) has pulled back the curtain on a 10MW offshore wind turbine design, a 193-metre-diameter-rotored monster that will churn out 30% more annual energy production than its current prestige model, the 8MW SG 8.0-167.

The new SG 10.0-193 DD, which will fly new-look carbon-reinforced 94-metre blades powering a direct-drive transmission system with beefed-up permanent magnet generator, will serve to "bridge market demand" until the OEM's “true step change”, the as-yet-unnameplated ‘1X’ platform, is in showroom in 2024-25.

Construction of the 10MW prototype is now under way for erection later this year, with plans to have the model ready for first orders by 2022.

“This is the next step in our ongoing, further development of our existing platform. The new [model] combines experiences and knowledge from five generations of proven direct drive technology in one 10MW turbine,” said SGRE CEO Markus Tacke, speaking with Recharge on the eve of the launch, adding the turbine would be a “showcase of strong performance, swift time-to-market, and low-risk offshore wind energy”.

The 10MW design – known internally as the ‘Mark 5’ – re-uses “most components” from previous generations, he noted, “for the supply chain, to provide a shorter time to market”, though it is the first ultra-large SGRE offshore turbine “where the outside dimensions [of the nacelle] are going up”, reflecting a larger drive-train and generator – though SGRE is keeping exact measurements secret.

The biggest difference to the naked eye, however, will be the ultra-long B94 blades, which stretch a full 13 metres further into the air than the 8MW’s B81s, to sweep an area of 29,300 square meters.

“This model has a larger rotor, yes, but from a design standpoint is has come from incremental improvements on [the offshore turbine technology developed for] the 6-8MW models,” he said. “The new SG 1X platform, which will be a true step-change, not a scaled-up version, is still to come.”

In 2015, Recharge reported on early plans at Siemens Wind (before it merged with Gamesa) to develop a next-generation supersize offshore turbine via its 1X skunkworks but as recently as last April the company’s offshore wind chief Andreas Nauen said the OEM was “uncertain” as to what the launch nameplate would be.

Tacke would not be drawn on the final size of the SG 1X but would reveal that “to commercially deploy it, we need a few years more, 2024 or 2025”.

The new super-long blades for the 10MW model will in the meantime add to the legacy of SGRE’s highly regarded IntegralBlade line – first used for the B75 units designed for the 6MW model – that are fabricated in a single piece with glass fiber-reinforced epoxy resin and balsam wood using a lay-up process that avoids seams and glued joints and has no adhesive.

But for the first time, the OEM has worked carbon-fiber into the internal structure to give the aerolastically tailored blades greater stiffness without adding economics-damaging weight. The 94-metre-long concept will also feature new surface treatments, the company’s patented PowerEdge leading edge erosion protection, and the option for 'project specific’ add-ons such as wind-capturing Dino Tails and vortex generators.

SGRE's high-speed development of its offshore wind power technology – which has also included new-look foundations and bolt-on offshore transformer modules, as well as installation feeder vessels and purpose-engineered SOV O&M ships – has allowed it to capture a sector-leading slice of the exploding European market, which now represents an installed capacity of 19GW.

“The 10MW is consistent with this approach,” said Tacke. “Offshore is not only about the turbine. This is about factories, logistics, feeder vessels, too. But we made sure the Mark 5 fits within that package.”

SGRE will manufacture the nacelles for the 10MW at its recently opened facility in Cuxhaven, Germany, with blades being delivered through “some combination” of fabrication at its Hull, UK, and Aalborg, Denmark factories. The prototype will be erected at the Østerild test site in Denmark this year, for a two-year programme of trials. The first turbines into the water, “it is safe to assume”, said Tacke, will be for projects in Europe.

Though OEMs have brought ever-larger turbines to market at a mind-boggling pace in recent years, the advent of zero-subsidy offshore wind tenders in Europe has put unprecedented pressure on them to fast-track development of still mightier models that could shoulder much of the burden of coming merchant power prices.

SGRE rival MHI Vestas took the wraps of its own 10MW model last year , revealed exclusively in Recharge, and OEM Senvion promises their 10MW machine will be market-ready “in the early 2020”. The US’ GE, meanwhile, unveiled its 12MW Haliade-X concept last March, also first reported exclusively in Recharge, and is now racing to get the turbine into the water by 2021 for lead-off orders, helped by a collaborative deal with UK technology body the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult.

All are jockeying for position not only in the rapidly maturing European northern seas market, which is expect to swell to 70GW by 2030, but also the various emerging “multi-gigawatt-scale” plays off the US and Asia, most immediately Taiwan, but also Japan, Korea.

“We are going to see the trend toward larger turbines [in these markets] too,” said Tacke. “For us, we will see installations of our 8MW to 2020-21, then this [10MW] machine will replace it for orders to a large extent from 2022. It will fill project [orders] and keep a competitive product in the market until the new [SG 1X] platform comes.”

The precipitous drop in the levellised cost of energy of offshore wind – from €200/MWh hour less than a decade ago to under €50/MWh today – has led to a much more rapid expansion of the technology into the energy mainstream than was anticipated, with even IT titan Google of the opinion the once “too expensive resource ... now that it’s coming down the cost curve, [has] lots of advantages” .

A growing number of Chinese turbine-makers, including Goldwind, Ming Yang and Dong Fang, faced with a government shift toward an auction system to replace pricey feed-in tariffs, have set off working on supersize machines for the next wave of build-out in their domestic waters.

The 10MW+ models now being sped to market around the world are also expected to be well-suited to the potentially vast floating wind sector, which has gone from a single-turbine in 2009 to array-scale and beyond in a decade, with a flagship multi-unit development nowoperating off Scotland and pre-commercial projects under development off France and elsewhere, as expectations of a 15GW international play being a reality by 2030 take shape.