Siemens have created the first batch of its new B75 wind turbine rotor blades.
These are the worlds longest rotor blades made for wind turbines, at 75 metres long these blades are almost as big as the wingspan of the Airbus A380. The blades are set to be installed on the second prototype of the Siemens 6 MW offshore wind turbine which will be constructed in Denmark’s Østerild test station.
To construct a blade of this size Siemens use their own patented IntegralBlade method. The blade is made in a single piece using glass fibre reinforced epoxy resin and balsa wood, using this method the blade doesn’t have any seams or bonded joints which makes the blade extremely robust.
Heavy blades are subject to higher loads and require stronger nacelles, towers, and foundations, the huge rotor, which measures in at 154 metres needs to withstand huge air masses as it’s hit by the energy of 200 tonnes of air per second when the wind blows at a speed of 10 metres per second.
Running at capacity, an entire farm of these new turbines could produce enough energy to power 1.8 million homes, by 2017. If the tests are successful, Danish energy giant, Dong, plans to install 300 of these new turbines along the English coast within the next few years.