UK: Narec Nears Completion of Its New 100m Wind Turbine Blade Test Facility

Narec’s (The National Renewable Energy Centre) new 100m Wind Turbine Blade Test Facility is nearing completion. The steel structure will be 28m high, 130m long and will be the largest of its kind, allowing it to test offshore wind turbine blades to a length of 100M.  The building is due to be commissioned in summer of 2012. 

The facility is jointly funded by Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Department for Energy and Climate Change (£11.5m) and Regional Development Agency One North East (£3.5m).

The construction of the 100m offshore wind turbine blade test facility was announced in December 2009 and it is focused on testing technology, which has been developed specifically to meet with the challenges of testing longer more flexible blades. Since opening their first facility in 2005, Narec has undertaken independent testing of wind turbine blades up to 50m in length for a number of leading manufacturers.

Proposals yet to come for the development of its wind campus over the next few years to support the deployment of Round 3 offshore wind farms, expected from 2014, include a drive train development facility for offshore wind turbines of up to 12 MW and full-scale demonstration capability.

Narec is also exhibiting at EWEA 2012 in Copenhagen, April 16-19.

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Offshore WIND staff, April 17, 2012; Image: Narec