German wind research institute Fraunhofer IWES will take over operation of OEM Adwen's AD8-180 offshore wind turbine prototype in the port of Bremerhaven, as part of a €18.5m ($19.3m) project funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs & Energy.

The grid-connected unit, currently being erected near Fraunhofer's DynaLab facility where the 8MW model's drive-train and transmission system was tested, will work as an R&D platform, open to partner-based technology projects in the future – and generating some €2m a year in revenue for the research centre.

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