LM Wind Power develops record breaking 88.4-meter wind turbine blade

Danish blade manufacturer LM Wind Power on Tuesday announced it had developed the world’s longest turbine blade with a length of 88.4 meters.

The new blade is specifically designed for offshore wind turbine manufacturer Adwen’s wind turbine model AD 8-180, with eight megawatts (MW) nominal capacity and 180 meter rotor diameter, LM Wind Power said in a statement.

The first of these massive blades has just been manufactured at LM Wind Power’s pilot plant in Lunderskov, Denmark and will be transported to a facility in Aalborg in the next few days for testing.

Adwen and LM Wind Power

According to LM Wind Power, the length of 88.4 meters is the best compromise between swept area — the area of the circle created by the blades as they sweep through the air — energy production, weight, and the loads transferred to the wind turbine.

This combination provides the optimum balance of plant costs and contributes to one of the most competitive leveled cost of energy in the industry, the company said.

The new blade is “an extraordinary example of industrialized innovation at record breaking scale,” said Marc de Jong, CEO of LM Wind Power.

Founded in Lunderskov in 1940, LM Wind Power is the world’s largest independent supplier of rotor blades for wind turbines. Approximately one in five wind turbines installed worldwide has LM Wind Power blades.

The company has a history of breaking size records with the LM 61.5 P as the world’s first blade exceeding 60 meters in 2004, followed by the record-breaking LM 73.5 P in 2011.