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Last week, LM Wind Power said it had successfully manufactured the world\u2019s first wind turbine blade to surpass 100 meters in length.<\/p>\n
The 107-meter blade completed the molding process at LM\u2019s factory in Cherbourg, France and will now proceed with post-molding finishing touches, before undergoing rigorous testing and validation to demonstrate its ability to withstand more than 20 years of operation offshore.<\/p>\n
The factory itself is brand new and is located on the banks of the English Channel in Normandy, just a short drive from the wide, sandy beaches where Allied troops landed on D-Day, said GE in a separate release.\u00a0The plant was\u00a0built near Cherbourg\u2019s industrial port to allow workers to load the blades onto ships and send them to their destination.<\/p>\n
Operating in three shifts, workers build the blades from a high-tech sandwich made from thin layers of glass and carbon fibers, and wood. They fuse everything together with a special resin.<\/p>\n
When all is said and done, the blades will be used in GE\u2019s Haliade-X 12 MW offshore wind turbine, the world\u2019s most powerful wind turbine to date.<\/p>\n
Lukasz Cejrowski, LM 107.0 P Project Director, LM Wind Power, said \u201cThe LM 107.0 P is one of the biggest single-components ever built. This is an amazing achievement not only for LM Wind Power and GE Renewable Energy, but for the entire wind industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alexis Crama, LM Wind Power Vice President, Offshore, said: \u201cThis achievement was made possible by our team of highly passionate people developing technology and manufacturing processes, to revolution yet again the offshore wind industry with ever-larger and more reliable rotor blades \u2013 thus capturing more wind and ultimately delivering an even lower levelized cost of energy!\u201d<\/p>\n