Currently, there are 4,000 wind turbines all across Europe covering 11 different countries. Germany and The U.K are leading in installing wind turbines. But soon France might take the first place in generating energy by installing the world’s largest wind turbine.
General Electric is planning to invest $400 Million to build the largest offshore wind turbine-Haliade-X for France. The turbines will have a capacity of producing 12 megawatts of electricity. They will stand 260 meters above the sea. That is only 64 meters less than the length of the Eiffel Tower and 168 meters more than the length of The Statue of Liberty.
World’s Largest Wind Turbine
According to John Flannery, CEO, and Chairman of GE, they want to lead the renewable energy movement. The company believes that offshore wind turbines have great potential and they will dedicate all their resources to introduce new inventions in this area.
GE will develop the first power generating unit by the year 2019 for the purpose of demonstration. And it hopes to deploy the first operational unit by the year 2021. When operational the farm will produce enough electricity to power a Million homes. Each turbine can generate 67 GWh of electricity and power 16,000 homes.
As of today, the largest Offshore wind turbine- MHI Vestas- is capable of generating 9.5 megawatts of electricity. It has 80-meter long blades and is 187 meters in length.
How Many Households Can It Power?
The Wind turbine will be capable of generating 12 megawatts of electricity per hour. However, we also need to take into account that we cannot forecast the wind velocity at a particular time in future with much accuracy and this will impact the daily generation of power.
Wrapping Up!
The largest offshore wind turbine will be put together in Saint-Nazaire. The French port is famous for building big things. Normandie and Queen Mary 2 were both built there, two of the biggest ships ever built. The Saint-Nazaire factory is building Haliade generators and also putting together nacelles for GE.
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In the meantime, if you are fascinated by Space, make sure to check out our blog on Space Elevators.
