The Vestas V236–15.0 MW - Vestas
The expansive plains of Denmark are home to a true giant. This colossus stands twice as high as the Statue of Liberty, though, unlike the Lady on a Pedestal, it moves with the wind. I am, of course, talking about Vesta’s V236–15.0 MW prototype offshore wind turbine. Not only is this the largest wind turbine ever constructed, but Vestas recently announced that back in December 2022, it smashed the power output by a single wind turbine in 24 hours record. At face value, these milestones might seem arbitrary or simply ceremonial. But in reality, they mark a significant step in the right direction, particularly as it is Vestas who achieved this, not their rivals. Let me explain.
Let’s start with a proper introduction to this turbine. The V236–15.0 MW stands at 280 m tall and has a rotor diameter of 236 m, and as the name suggests, it can output 15 MW of power. This means that, in theory, it can deliver around 80 GWh of energy each year. That means this one turbine could power a small town all by itself! As of right now, it is still a prototype and undergoing field-testing. That is why it is located on terra firma in Jutland, Denmark, rather than out to sea, where it is designed to be installed, as this gives engineers and analysts easy access, enabling them to thoroughly test its design.
Vestas recently announced that back in December 2022, this prototype turbine, which isn’t even fully optimised and ready for production yet, produced a monumental 363 megawatt-hours in just 24 hours, setting a new world record. For some sense of scale here, the average US home currently uses around 886 kWh of energy per month, which means that this turbine produced enough energy in a single day to power a home for over 34 years!
So why is this a good thing? Surely, several smaller turbines can produce the same amount of power?
Well, over the past twenty years, wind turbines have been getting bigger and bigger at a rather alarming rate, all in an effort to make wind power cheaper.
You see, even though a larger wind turbine costs significantly more to build than a smaller one, the cost per energy output is…
