A wind turbine just smashed a global energy record—and it’s recyclable
The new offshore turbine could power a Model 3 Tesla for over 1 million miles.
The Siemens Gamesa turbine generated 359 megawatt-hours in just 24 hours. Siemens Gamesa
Siemens Gamesa announced Monday that its breakthrough development in offshore wind turbine technology, the 14-222 DD offshore prototype, has set a new world record for the most energy generated over 24 hours. As first reported by news outlets earlier this week, the prototype delivered 359 megawatt-hours in a single day—roughly enough to power 18,000 households, or keep a Tesla Model 3 charged for over 1 million miles.
“With every new generation of our offshore direct drive turbine technology—which uses fewer moving parts than geared turbines—component improvements have enabled greater performance while maintaining reliability,” Siemens Gamesa explains via the turbine’s fact sheet.
[Related: Best home wind turbines of 2022.]
One of the keys to the 14-222 DD offshore prototype’s success are its “revolutionary” blades cast from a single, gigantic piece of recyclable resin. Although the company’s “RecyclableBlade” technology first appeared in an earlier turbine generation last year, additional construction advancements have further optimized its offerings via its latest project.
“We are proving that as the leaders of the offshore revolution, we are committed to making disruptive technology innovation commercially viable with the pace that the climate emergency demands,” Marc Becker, CEO of the Siemens Gamesa Offshore Business Unit, told The Independent.
[Related: Scientists think we can get 90 percent clean energy by 2035.]
Advancements in renewable wind energy technology are heartening to see as climate change‘s effects rapidly become increasingly dire for the world’s populations. Recently, the first utility-scale facility comprised of a solar, wind, and battery triple threat came online in northern Oregon. The setup reportedly can power 100,000 homes thanks to its combined 300 megawatts of wind, 50 megawatts of solar, and 30 megawatts of battery storage.
According to Siemens Gamesa, the 14-222 DD turbine is slated to go into production in 2024, and already has preorders from wind farms off the coasts of the US, UK, and Taiwan.
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