GE to open £50m wind turbine testing facility in UK

American multinational conglomerate GE is developing a £50m wind turbine testing facility at National Renewable Energy Centre (NAREC) in UK.

The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) has committed an investment of £25m through the test rig design, development and commissioning by GE Power Conversion and its consortium partner MTS Systems.

The open-access facility is aimed at helping wind turbine developers for full-scale testing of large nacelles, besides pacing up the development of their systems.

GE has designed a 35m high, 3,000m2 facility to accommodate the test rig to enable it to with capability of handling the performance, endurance and compressed life testing of complete nacelles.

The installation and commissioning of the facility includes the direct-drive, 30 rpm permanent magnet motor that has a maximum force of 14.3 million newton metres (NM).

The 15MW magnet motor, supplied by GE, Rugby was assembled on-site due to its huge frame of 330 tonnes and a diameter of 8m.

GE Power Conversion test systems global business leader Franz Hubl said the wind energy developers irrespective of their origin could access the NAREC facility.

"We are well on the way to completing the installation and will train technical personnel very shortly. GE also is responsible for supplying on-site and remote service and maintenance as well as developing new equipment for future projects," added Hubl.

GE has provided turnkey package for the test facility that includes a heavy-duty, medium-voltage drive system and comprehensive automation and visualization equipment.

In addition, the company is responsible to overlook the installation with the wind load simulator, while, MTS has supplied its Force Application System (FAS).