MHI Vestas turbine platform can scale up to GE’s 12 MW rival

Japanese-Danish joint venture MHI Vestas can scale up its current offshore wind turbine platform to match a 12 megawatt (MW) rival product that is being developed by General Electric (GE), its chief executive said.

The sector is racing to build ever larger turbines, which are becoming more efficient along with size. The most powerful offshore turbines currently in commercial use were built by MHI Vestas and have an output of 8.8 MW.

Rivals Senvion and Siemens Gamesa are both looking into double-digit MW offshore turbines for the next decade. Earlier this year, GE announced its 12 MW Haliade-X, to be launched in 2021, the biggest turbine to date.