GE starts work on massive 18MW offshore wind turbine

American technology icon GE is working on the next variant of its successful Haliade-X wind turbine, with plans already underway to deliver a 17 or 18MW offshore wind turbine by 2024 or 2025.

Speaking at the company’s recent 2023 investor conference on March 9, Scott L. Strazik, president and CEO of GE Power & Renewable Energy, explained that they were already “getting a very positive reception from the market with our 17 to 18MW Haliade-X variant.”

While the question was in regards to GE’s larger profit goals, Strazik added that he expects orders for such a turbine won’t happen until 2024 or some time into 2025.

GE unveiled the first Haliade-X turbine all the way back in early 2018 with the 12MW Haliade-X – at the time, the largest turbine in the world.

Since then, competition has heated up, with Siemens Gamesa unveiling its own 14MW behemoth in 2020, Vestas launching a 15MW turbine in 2021, and GE expanding the number of Haliade-X variants to include 13MW and 14MW versions.

More recently, Chinese wind turbine manufacturers have entered the competition. Chinese clean energy company MingYang Smart Energy unveiled its own 16MW turbine in August 2021, but was beaten to the punch by rival Goldwind who actually manufactured a 16MW turbine later that year.

MingYang Smart Energy subsequently upped the ante with the MySE 18.X-28X wind turbine, but was soon matched by China State Shipbuilding Corporation who announced earlier this year plans to unveil its own 18MW turbine.