FT: Wind power faces problems as turbine blade sizes grow rapidly

London, 2 September (CTK/Financial Times) – The 169 wind turbines erected off the coast of Yorkshire by Danish company Ørsted can be considered an engineering feat. Each has a capacity of eight megawatts and can supply a household with energy for 24 hours with just one rotation of its 81-metre blades. Dozens of kilometres further north, rival SSE has gone one better: its newer turbines, with 107-metre blades, can power a household for up to two days with a single rotation. But the race to build bigger turbines has prompted experts to call for slower growth and greater standardisation, the Financial Times (FT) reports.

The dramatic increase in the length of offshore wind turbine blades reflects fierce competition over the past decade and more. The rapid pace of development has helped cut costs and shown that the sector can be an important part of decarbonising the energy system. Critics, however, fear that the race for ever-longer blades may now do more harm than good, as supply chains struggle to keep up and questions arise over technical risks and the profitability of wind turbine manufacturers.