Flying blades nearly as long as the Saturn V space rocket and with enough horsepower under the hood to single-handedly supply electricity to 18,000 homes, the world’s biggest wind turbine, Siemens Gamesa’s long-promised ‘1X’ machine, has been launched, propelling the German-Spanish company back to top of the offshore OEM league table and creating a strong updraft for the industry’s chances of building projects at merchant market prices by 2024.
The SG14.0-222DD, a 14MW platform engineered to be digitally up-tuned to 15MW, will feature a record-setting 222-metre-diameter rotor sweeping an area of 39,000m3 to turn a hulking direct-drive transmission system and permanent magnet generator (PMG) promising a 25% higher annual energy production (AEP) than its
