Haliade X – Futurewind, Haliade Next Gen and Amphytrite

The world’s largest wind turbine was installed in the port of Rotterdam at the end of 2019. It is a GE’s Haliade X 14 MW test turbine. GE Renewable Energy aims to strengthen its worldwide offshore market share with this offshore wind turbine. The location of this turbine was eveloped by Sif and Pondera on the Second Maasvlakte in the port of Rotterdam. Sif is a steel company specialising in the production of offshore monopiles that are used for offshore wind turbines. With its own wind power, Sif runs its production on 100% renewable energy. Pondera scouted the location for the project in 2016 as one of the windiest onshore locations in the Netherlands. After conducting feasibility studies, Pondera applied for the permits and subsidy. Pondera, Sif and GE eventually came together and set up the Future Wind Project. Since 2019, the GE Haliade X provides 12 MW of electricity to the electricity grid. Meanwhile, the turbine has been upgraded to a maximum 14 MW capacity and the certification process has been completed.

However, developments in the wind turbine market continue unabated and the success of the Haliade X tastes like more. GE is currently working on a new version of the Haliade (the Haliade Next Gen) for which cooperation has once again been sought with Pondera and Sif. On the neighboring site of Sif there is still room for a second wind turbine, with the combination with an electrolyser for the production of hydrogen now explicitly being considered. Under the working name “AmpHytrite,” a consortium of Sif, Pondera and KCI is investigating the feasibility of this idea. The goal is to make this a demonstration project to prove that a commercially viable offshore, off-grid hydrogen production system is feasible. By directly coupling a modern offshore wind turbine at a site with offshore wind conditions to an electrolyzer, virtually all offshore conditions can be tested.