The company said that the 107m blade has made its first trip outside its factory at in Cherbourg, France

LM Wind

Image: LM Wind Power’s newest blade to be used on GE Haliade-X 12MW turbine. Photo: Courtesy of LM Wind Power.

LM Wind Power, a subsidiary of General Electric (GE), has announced that is in final preparations to ship the first blade for the Haliade-X 12MW wind turbine.

The company said that the 107m blade has made its first trip outside its factory at in Cherbourg, France. The company stated that final preparations are underway for the shipment of the wind turbine blade. It is claimed to be the first time that the wind turbine blade has surpassed 100m in length.

LM Wind Power, in a statement, said: “The Haliade-X 12 MW is a multi-million investment that will help reduce offshore wind’s cost of energy in order to make it a more competitive source of clean and renewable energy.

One 12MW turbine can generate 67GWh of clean energy annually

The Haliade-X 12MW turbine can annually generate about 67GWh of clean power, which is more annual energy production (AEP) than other power machines in the market and is twice as much as the Haliade 150-6MW.

It will generate enough clean power to be supplied to 16,000 households as per the wind conditions on a typical German North Sea site. A typical wind farm with 750MW of capacity, powered by Haliade-X turbines could generate enough energy to be supplied to up to 1 million households.

The wind turbine has a 63% capacity factory, which is five to seven points above the industry standard. Each incremental point is claimed to represent about $7m in revenue for customers during the wind farm’s life time.

In April, LM Wind Power announced that it has begun the manufacturing process of the over 100m wind turbine blade. Back then, the company announced that it had completed the moulding process at its Cherbourg facility in France.

LM Wind Power LM 107.0 P project director Lukasz Cejrowski said: “The LM 107.0 P is one of the biggest single-components ever built. This is an amazing achievement not only for LM Wind Power and GE Renewable Energy, but for the entire wind industry.”