This image shows Vestas wind turbines used in a Russian plant.
Valery Matytsin | TASS | Getty Images
Vestas announced plans for a 15-megawatt (MW) offshore wind turbine on Wednesday, with the Danish company hoping to install a prototype next year before increasing production in 2024.
According to the Aarhus-based company, the V236-15.0 MW turbine giant will be able to generate about 80 gigawatt hours per year.
This, he says, would be enough to feed about 20,000 European households, saving more than 38,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide in the process.
Vestas is the latest company to advance with the development of a considerable offshore wind turbine. Haliade-X from GE Renewable Energy can be configured at 12, 13 or 14 MW, while Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy is working on a 14 MW turbine that can also be increased to 15 MW if needed.
As the technology developed, the size of wind turbines increased. In a recent report, WindEurope stated that the average nominal capacity of turbines installed in Europe last year was 8.2 MW, an increase of 5% compared to 2019. The capacity refers to the maximum amount that a turbine can produce. , not necessarily what it currently generates.
Vestas also released its 2020 annual report on Wednesday. The company said its profit for this year reached 771 million euros ($ 934 million), slightly better than the 700 million euros reported for 2019. Vestas revenues in 2020 reached 14.8 billion euros, an increase of 22% compared to 2019.
Speaking on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Wednesday, CEO Henrik Andersen said he was pleased that the company had managed to operate, despite what he described as “challenging Covid-19 conditions”.
The European offshore wind sector attracted more than 26 billion euros of investment last year, a record amount, according to WindEurope.
In an announcement on Monday, the Brussels-based organization said the money raised would fund a total of 7.1 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity, with projects to be developed and built over the next few years.