Star turn | LM Wind Power opens 'largest of its kind' rotor test rig for giant turbine components
GE-owned blade specialist says Netherlands facility will help industry scale-up for on- and offshore deployment
LM Wind Power cut the ribbon in the Netherlands at what the blade specialist claimed is the largest turbine rotor test rig of its type.
The facility, at the LM Wind Power’s WMC Technology Centre, will give the GE-owned group crucial new insights into the performance of rotors as they scale up for ever larger blades both on- and offshore, the group has previously said.
Work on the rig started in 2020 by a consortium of GE Renewable Energy, LM Wind Power and Dutch research body TNO, with the Netherlands government providing some of the funding.
GE Renewable Energy and LM Wind Power are already building some of the world’s largest wind components, including the up-to-14MW Haliade-X offshore turbine giant that will use 107-metre blades.
CEO Olivier Fontan claimed state-of-the-art facilities “have always been one of LM Wind Power’s competitive advantages”.
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