MHI Vestas has launched a 10MW version of its V164 offshore wind turbine, upscaled with a beefier gearbox, minor mechanical upgrades, and a design tune-up that enhances air flow and increases cooling in the converter.

The machine, which began life as a 7MW concept in 2011 and has been consistently stepped up in power rating since, is available for sale immediately, with first deliveries expected in 2021.

“Crossing the [10MW] threshold is important both in production terms and psychologically too for the industry – if I had been told when I came into the industry that there would one day be a 10MW machine, I’m not sure I would have believe it,” CEO Philippe Kavafyan told Recharge at its Thought Leaders Summit on Monday. “It is a new frontier.”

“But what is really encouraging is that it has been a natural growth [in nameplate capacity]. I don’t see this as ‘disruptive’ – not least in the supply chain. And I don’t think anyone is thinking we will stop here. We are moving forward with our practice of incremental innovation through all parts of the value chain.”

“What was unreachable before has become the new benchmark,” he added.

The V164 is one of the first offshore wind turbines to be designed from scratch by an OEM — rather than developed by “marinising” an onshore model — with every component engineered for the extreme conditions the machine would face operating in Europe’s northern seas.

Sweeping an area of 21,124 square metres, the turbine's rotor flies 80-metre “structural shell” blades powering a drivetrain built around a three-stage medium-speed gearbox with permanent-magnet generator and full-scale converter able to handle 33kV or 66kV voltage.

Each V164-10.0MW, designed to run at full power in wind speeds of 10 metres per second for 25 years, will be able to power the equivalent of almost 6,000 European homes.

MHI Vestas chief technology officer Torben Hvid Larsen said: “At MHI Vestas, we are focused not on what others are doing, but being the best at what we do. The V164-10.0MW turbine is the best proof point yet that we do not accept the limitations of conventional thinking and that we think beyond ourselves. We have embraced the challenge of transforming what is possible in our field.”

The V164 upscaling process has been driven in large part by performance-enhancing ‘Max’ features added to the machine in recent years, with MHI Vestas in April unveiling a new line of digitally driven ‘Smart’ software to further optimise the ultra-large-scale machine.

The OEM has delivered more than 100 of its sub-10MW V164s already, and has secured 2.2GW of firm and unconditional orders for projects to be built in 2018-20 in Europe, as well as being named preferred supplier for a further 2.7GW of capacity — including a breakthrough 900MW in Taiwan.

Recent orders for the 9.5MW V164 in Europe include the Shell-led Borssele 3&4 680MW project off the Netherlands and Parkwind’s Northwester 2 off Belgium, while Vattenfall’s 406MW Horns Rev 3 project is under construction using 8.3MW versions of the turbine.

The V164 has been designed as “foundation-agnostic”, with first units being erected on monopiles late in 2016 at the 258MW Burbo Bank Extension wind farm, and follow-on installations on concrete gravity bases at Blyth and suction-bucket jackets at Aberdeen Bay, all located off the UK.

Kavafyan noted that the 10MW version will also be well-suited for floating wind farms in the future – building on the experience it expects to gain on the EDP Renewables-led consortium WindPlus’ 25.2MW WindFloat Atlantic project off Portugal, where the OEM is delivering three of its V164-8.4MW turbines. “We are certainly going to continue following this path.”

“This is a new class of utility-scale machine [for all foundation types]: it will give the industry the opportunity to further drive operational excellence in all phases – in the supply chain, in construction, installation and maintenance,” said Kavafyan.

“Utility-scale will mean hundreds of machines and with the 10MW you will get ‘more’ every time you install a turbine – this will further accelerate the cost reduction trend in offshore wind, which [has been] the differentiator for the industry in competing with other sources of energy in recent years.”

Wind

MHI Vestas unveils upscaled 10MW V164