GL Renewables Certification (GL RC) has been chosen by AMSC to conduct the A-Design Assessment of its 5.5MW full conversion offshore wind turbine (WT5000FC). The A-Design Assessment comprises a thorough evaluation of the turbine, ensuring that it meets the requirements of GL RC’s “Guideline for the Certification of Offshore Wind Turbines, Edition 2005,” which addresses the safety philosophy, quality assurance and engineering integrity of the turbine, and verifies that the turbine complies with the standard in terms of its load assumptions and design.

“Certification and design validation are essentially for technically reliable wind turbines”, explains Andreas Schroeter, Managing Director of GL RC. “Especially for complex offshore projects it is important that independent third party certification bodies confirm that a turbine can be expected to last for its planned lifetime.” AMSC’s turbine design uses an advanced electrical individual pitch control system design. It is available in 50 or 60Hz, for various climate conditions and in different hub heights, different rotor diameters and blade types, to meet all type classes.

New Offshore Guideline
Recently, GL RC published its new “Guideline for the Certification of Offshore Wind Turbines,” Edition 2012. The Guideline was compiled in cooperation with its Wind and Marine Energy Committee. The updated guideline tracks the main developments in the offshore wind industry, for example, the increased size of turbines and mitigation of loads using advanced, intelligent control systems. Every aspect of development from blade tip, to foundation and power export cable is considered and it also provides a fully integrated design and analysis concept for offshore wind turbines.

GL Renewables Certification
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