Wind turbine 'arms race' back on agenda as Siemens Gamesa said to plan 21MW giant
Largest Western producer of offshore machines earlier this year said EU granted it funds for prototype of 'world’s most powerful offshore wind turbine'
The turbine size 'arms race' was back on the agenda with Siemens Gamesa telling customers of plans to produce a supersized offshore wind turbine with a rating of about 21MW towards the end of the decade, Bloomberg said citing anonymous sources.
The company had no direct comment on the news agency story, but the report mostly confirmed what market experts have told Recharge previously.
Siemens Gamesa earlier this year also made public that the EU has granted the company money from its innovation fund for an offshore wind prototype to be erected this year, which it described as “the world's most powerful offshore wind turbine”. The company then didn’t specify a power rating, though.
“The installation in Oesterild, Denmark, is a test facility partly funded by the European Commission. We will only decide whether we will ultimately install a new product in a commercial project after careful testing,” Siemens Gamesa parent Siemens Energy reiterated to Recharge today.
But the company added: “However, we fundamentally believe in the offshore market and the expansion of capacities at sea must be implemented quickly and consistently to reach the ambitious climate targets. Our 14MW turbine has everything it needs for that.”
Siemens Gamesa, the largest Western producer of offshore wind turbines which is currently installing 14MW-rated machines, is in a race with Chinese rivals, which have launched turbines with 20 to 22MW ratings, with Dongfang Electric last week saying it has already installed an 18MW turbine at a coastal test site in Shantou, China.
Any move to 20MW or above, with the parallel ramp up in dimensions, would reignite the debate among Western players over whether the so-called 'arms race' is damaging the supply chain by hobbling its ability to plan and invest, the position of Vestas which is arguing for consolidation around the 15MW mark.
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