VESTAS V164 – 7MW Offshore Wind Turbine

Its Big – Its Gigantic – Its Massive – The Vestas V164

Introducing the Brand New Vestas V164 – 7.0 MW

For Wind Power Enthusiasts, the new Vestas V164 – 7 Megawatt wind turbine, will be an amazing sight to look at. A single blade measures more than 9 London Doubledecker Buses. That’s 80 metres. The total diameter of the Turbine is larger then the world famous London Eye and the total rotating area of the blade is roughly 3 times the area of Wembley Stadium. Once the turbine is build, a prototy is scheduled for Q4 of 2012, it is likely to be the world largest wind turbine, beating the current record holder Enercon E126. There are speculations that the turbine will be build in the UK after Vestas hinting it may set up a new production facility there.

This offshore turbine has been designed with two guiding principles in mind: firstly, this new generation of offshore turbines is intended to require as little maintenance as possible. Secondly, when servicing is required, it should be as safe, quick and cost efficient as possible.

With the V164-7.0 MW Vestas introduces design choices to drive profitability to new levels in offshore wind:

Maximising the amount of energy capture, not only with the huge rotor diameter of 164m, but also through an optimal rotor to generator ratio
Reducing operations and maintenance costs by enabling customers to run fewer, larger turbines
Reducing the scale and risk of investment required, as fewer turbines also means fewer foundations and less cabling
Maximising the return on investment thanks to the 25 year structural life of the V164-7.0 MW – outstanding by industry standards. This gives you a longer period to generate energy, and adds to your business case certainty.

Based on the potential market size, the Vestas V164-7.0 MW business case is based on Europe and primarily the Northern European markets. Should market demand require so Vestas is however also prepared to take the V164-7.0 MW to other parts of the world in due time.

Construction of the first V164-7.0 MW prototypes is expected in Q4 2012. Serial production is set to begin in Q1 2015 provided a firm order backlog is in place to justify the substantial investment needed to develop the new production and assembly facilities required for a turbine of this size.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Rated power: 8,000.0 kW
  Cut-in wind speed: 4.0 m/s
  Rated wind speed: 13.0 m/s
  Cut-out wind speed: 25.0 m/s
  Survival wind speed: 50.0 m/s

• Rotor
  Diameter: 164.0 m
  Swept area: 21,124.0 m²
  Number of blades: 3
  Rotor speed, max: 12.1 U/min
  Tipspeed: 104 m/s
  Type: 80

• Power density 1: 378.7 W/m²
  Power density 2: 2.6 m²/kW
• Single blade: 35.0 t
  Nacelle: 375.0 t