The 7MW floating turbine is ready for deployment in Fukushima.
The world’s largest capacity floating wind turbine, manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has been assembled at Fukushima, and will be delivered to the testing area at the end of June.
The MHI 7 MW turbine has been assembled on to a three-column semi-submersible floating platform at the Onahama port. The turbine will be delivered to the project site 20 kilometres off Japan’s east coast on June 30. Electric work and commissioning are planned for mid-September, and demonstration operations set for December.
A consortium led by Marubeni, in partnership with the University of Tokyo, MHI, and other engineering firms, is developing the project.
Takeshi Ishihara, a professor in the department of civil engineering at the University of Tokyo and technical adviser to the project said: “With the completion of the world’s largest 7 MW floating wind turbine, I am convinced that floating wind power will spread throughout the world.”
“The need to face the challenges of severe natural conditions, such as typhoons, high waves, and the sea currents, has led the Fukushima project to develop a variety of new technologies, and, as such, can be said to be a new milestone in floating wind power,” he added.
The MWT167H/7.0 turbine used to be called the Mitsubishi SeaAngel. MHI dropped the “SeaAngel” name from the turbine in February, so it did not “confuse the market”. It will also avoid competition with MHI-Vestas’ V164-8 MW turbine, a spokesperson said. A prototype of the turbine has been installed at an onshore test site at Hunterston, Scotland.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
www.mhi-global.com/
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