Offshore wind turbines in the Thames Estuary (Image:
phault via Flickr)
Currently, the world’s largest capacity wind turbine is the
Enercon E-126, which has a rated capacity of 7.58 MW. It has
held that honor since its introduction in 2007, but is under
threat of losing the title with a number of 10 MW turbines
currently in development – including what was destined to be the
world’s biggest wind turbine to be built in Norway. Now a
Spanish project has upped the ante with its aim of building an
offshore wind turbine with a capacity of 15 MW.
The Azimut project will see eleven Spanish companies and no
less than 22 research centers joining forces with the aim of
generating the know-how required to develop a large-scale marine
wind turbine using 100 percent Spanish technology. This includes
overcoming the challenges of constructing offshore wind turbine
foundations, energy delivery to land, and narrowing the gap
between the cost of offshore and onshore wind energy sites.
If these hurdles can be addressed, the plan is to then
construct a large-scale offshore wind turbine with a capacity of
15 MW by 2020. The initial stage of the project, which is set to
wind up in 2013, will cost 25 million euro (over US$33 million)
over the four years.
Via
inhabitat.
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