GE Renewable Energy constructing largest wind turbine rotor test rig

• 3 years ago (2020-08-25)
• David Flin

Europe 1061 Wind 239

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GE Renewable Energy has announced that construction and commissioning of the test rigs at its wind turbine rotor test facility at LM Wind Power’s WMC Technology Centre in Wieringerwerf, Netherlands, will be completed in November 2020.

The test rig is being constructed by a consortium comprising GE Renewable Energy, LM Wind Power , and TNO . This is being carried out under the STRETCH project, with partial funding from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. The rotor test rig will allow for verification of the strength and the dynamic behaviour of wind turbine rotors under the enormous mechanical loads caused by large blades. Knowledge gained in the project will be used to improve existing design tools which, after verification through digital twin concepts, will contribute to the design of larger rotors.

Hanif Mashal, Vice President of Engineering for LM Wind Power, said: “Establishing the most advanced and largest rotor test rig of its kind shows our commitment to develop insights into rotor technology that go beyond blade production alone. With this innovative test rig, we will be able to verify in-house the pitch bearings and pitch system that fix the wind turbine blades to the hub and allows pitching blade maximising captured energy while reducing loads on the wind turbine.”