North East to test world's largest offshore turbine blades
Elaine Brass
15th December 2009
The North East is to get the world’s largest testing facility for offshore wind turbine blades.
The £15 million testing facility for 100 metre long offshore wind turbines will give the renewable industry an "independent and confidential environment to accelerate the development of new blade designs before they are taken offshore", according to NaREC (New and Renewable Energy Centre) based in Blyth, Northumberland, which is behind the project.
The new testing facility will be ready for offshore turbine deployment under the Crown Estate Round Three licensing period for offshore wind farms in 2014. It will expand on NaREC’s existing blade testing facilities – the only full-scale ones in the UK – that have been developed over the last five years to undertake accelerated full-life testing. The facilities already undertake composite analysis, damage assessment, blade and mould integrity inspections, and lightning protection system verification for blades at the current industry average length of 45-50 metres.
The new testing facility has been jointly funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Energy and Climate Change (£11.5 million) and Regional Development Agency One North East (£3.5 million).
The funding will specifically focus on the challenge of testing longer, more flexible blades in the 50 to 100 metre range and will deliver the technology development and certification required for the Crown Estate Round Three.
Andrew Mill, ceo of NaREC, said: “This funding comes in timely response to calls for improved facilities from project developers and manufacturers who urgently need to validate and improve the future reliability of next generation prototype machines, before they are rolled out in their hundreds under Crown Estate Round Three plans.
"Future wind turbine blades are predicted to increase to up to 100 metres in length and will utilise new materials, for deployment offshore in the UK over the next 10 years and beyond, so it is absolutely vital for the industry that there are suitable facilities in the UK. In order to provide insights into the likely performance of such blades under hostile operational load, there will be an increased level of sophistication in the types of tests to be performed.”
NaREC is also proposing to develop a wind campus over the next five years to support the deployment of Round Three farms. This will include a drive train development facility for turbines of up to 12 megawatts and full-scale demonstration capability.
Vestas, the Danish-owned wind turbine manufacturer is also planning to build and test 100 metre long turbines at a research and development facility set to be built on the Isle of Wight.