GE Renewable Energy has set the seal on a major delivery of its giant Haliade-X offshore wind turbines for Orsted’s gigawatt-plus Ocean Wind development off the US state of New Jersey, one of largest sector projects underway off the Atlantic seaboard.

The OEM finalised supply and service contracts for the 12MW version of the machine – with an option to trade-up for the 13MW model – for the 1.1GW wind farm, being built 15 miles (24km) off the Garden State’s shoreline with a view to powering up to 500,000 homes a year once in operation in late-2024.

“We appreciate the continued confidence that Orsted has shown in our Haliade-X turbine. We are excited to be a part of New Jersey’s inaugural offshore wind project and look forward to a long partnership with both Orsted and the Garden State,” said GE’s offshore wind CEO John Lavelle.

He noted the planned New Jersey Wind Port, to be built in Lower Alloways Creek to support construction of Ocean Wind, would be “a great resource for the offshore wind industry to use in maximising the environmental and economic development benefits that offshore wind can bring to the state and the nation.”

In December Orsted and EEW confirm plans for a $250m investment in a monopile foundation plant at New Jersey’s Paulsboro Marine Terminal. The state has ambitions to source 7.5GW of offshore wind by 2035.

Orsted Offshore CEO Martin Neubert said: “The ever-increasing capacity of wind turbines has been fundamental to making offshore wind energy competitive with electricity from fossil fuel generation. We look forward to working with GE on deploying the new turbine on our Mid-Atlantic projects.”

The developer’s North America business boss, David Hardy, added: “Partnering with GE to supply our largest US project speaks to the confidence we have in the Haliade-X turbine’s revolutionary technology.”

GE’s Haliade-X 13MW turbine is the same size and dimensions as the 12MW, first launched in March 2018, as revealed exclusively in Recharge, but has been tuned-up with enhancements to the cooling system and electrical equipment to produce at a higher nameplate.

The OEM’s design, which flies 107-metre-long blades, is calculated able to generate up to 67GWh of gross annual energy production, enough to power 16,000 households and save up to 42,000 tonnes of CO₂ , equal to the emissions of 9,000 vehicles in a year.

The global offshore wind fleet could expand 20-fold in the next 15 years to 584GW as European and Asian market growth goes neck-and-neck but will need to unlock almost $1.5trn in finance to underpin this explosive build-out, according to latest figures from IntelStor.

OREAC, an industry action group led by developers Orsted and Equinor, calculated recently that construction of a vast fleet offshore wind farms around the world could deliver 10% of the carbon emission reduction needed to reach the Paris Agreement target of keeping global heating to within 2.0℃ of pre-industrial levels

Wind

GE seals Haliade-X deal for New Jersey's gigawatt-plus offshore wind flagship