Fraunhofer IWES to test Siemens Gamesa’s 8-MW offshore turbine

The nacelle of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA’s (BME:SGRE) recently-launched 8-MW offshore wind turbine will undergo performance tests from April 2018 at the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES).

Siemens Games and Fraunhofer IWES have signed a contract for the comprehensive validation of the SG 8.0-167 DD, research institute Fraunhofer said on Thursday. The wind turbine maker announced the launch of the new direct drive (DD) offshore wind turbine, with a rotor diameter of 167 metres, earlier this week.

The prototype of the new machine will be subject to hardware in the loop (HiL) tests at IWES’ Dynamic Nacelle Testing Laboratory (DyNaLab) that will seek to validate the turbine’s performance and grid compatibility. Tests will be completed at the end of next year.

Siemens Gamesa and IWES have been collaborating since the start of the year in order to specify the test plan for the 8-MW turbine turbine.

As previously announced, the wind turbine maker installed and commissioned the first prototype in the 8-MW class in Oesterild, Denmark, at the beginning of 2017. It plans to erect an additional SG 8.0-167 DD prototype there next year to test its blades.

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