Multirotor Wind Turbine has Produced its First kWh

19 July 2016

Continuing to reduce the levelised cost of energy (LCOE) over the long-term will require new solutions and a new way of thinking. Many new load and control features will need to be developed, tested, and proven to assess the technical and eventually the commercial feasibility of the concept, and first after successful demonstration will Vestas know more about the possible use of the technologies.

- Installing a concept turbine shows that innovation sometimes entails entirely new thinking and new approaches. This process of continuous innovation and exploration is extremely important. It provides us with essential knowledge that can help us bring down our products’ cost of energy and integrate key technologies to solve our customers’ challenges. Ultimately, the goal is to assess if we can build an even more cost-efficient turbine by challenging the scaling rules, says Jorge Magalhaes, Senior Vice President, Vestas Innovation & Concepts.

Anders Vedel, Executive Vice President, Vestas Technology & Service Solutions adds that: “(…) We see a great opportunity – and need – to continuously explore alternative concepts to cover the world’s rapidly growing energy demand in a sustainable way, while simultaneously continue lowering the cost of energy our products deliver”.

Illustration of the Multirotor Turbine. Photo Courtesy: Vestas

With the Technical University of Denmark as a research partner, the multi-rotor concept demonstrator is being erected at the Risø test site near Roskilde, Denmark, where it will be studied closely in the coming years in order to test specific functionalities.
- We are very happy to make our expertise available in the research collaboration with Vestas. It is promising, if you could increase the performance in new and untraditional ways, and we hope this exciting concept can contribute to an even more efficient wind turbine technology, says Anders Bjarklev, President of the Technical University of Denmark

The turbine is exclusively constructed for testing with no commercial outlet.

Source: Energy Supply, Vestas & DTU