Vestas to develop wind turbines for North Sea

Leading wind technology firm Vestas has announced that it is developing the next generation of offshore wind turbines specifically to cope with the rough North Sea conditions.

The firm have predicted that Northern Europe will be the centre of the future offshore wind market and its new turbine has been designed to tackle both the harsh weather conditions and the need to increase energy capture.

The new machine, the V164-7.0 MW, will have a rotor diameter of 164 meters which will enable it to produce 7MW.

President of Vestas Offshore Anders Søe-Jensen said: “We have designed the V164-7.0 MW to provide the highest energy capture and the highest reliability in this rough and challenging environment. This makes our new turbine an obvious and ideal choice for instance for many UK Round 3 projects.”

The prototype is planned to be built at Vestas’ research and development plant on the Isle of Wight and the company has agreed a memorandum of understanding with Danish energy group DONG to test the turbine.