Wind power world record broken by "revolutionary" turbine

A new design of wind turbine has broken the world record for the most amount of power generated in a 24-hour period.

Siemens Gamesa said its 14-222 DD offshore prototype generated 359 megawatt-hours in just one day – enough to power 18,000 households or a Tesla Model 3 for more than a million miles, according to the Independent.

The renewable energy breakthrough was achieved using a set of “revolutionary” blades that are cast in a single piece of recyclable resin.

The new turbine also features an increased rotor diameter that delivers more than 25 per cent more annual energy production than turbines currently on the market.

“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 wrote in a fact sheet for its latest prototype turbine.

“With a growing need to meet climate challenges, the winds of change power us more than ever. The new SG 14-222 DD is the next step towards this goal.”

The RecyclableBlade technology has already been used in a previous generation of turbine, having first launched in September 2021.

It was first used commercially in an offshore wind power installation in July 2022 run by RWE Renewables.

A record has been set by our SG 14-222 DD offshore prototype! 💪 The turbine has produced 359 megawatt-hours within a 24-hour time period - the most power one turbine has ever produced over this duration and enough energy to drive 1.8 million km in a mid-sized electric car! pic.twitter.com/zPuzIeW4CA

— Siemens Gamesa (@SiemensGamesa) October 10, 2022

“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,” said Marc Becker, CEO of the Siemens Gamesa Offshore Business Unit.

“With RecyclableBlade available for our customers, we can create a virtuous circular economy.”

The new 14-222 DD turbine is set to go into production in 2024, with Siemens Gamesa claiming to have orders in place for wind farms off the coast of Taiwan, the US and the UK.