Gamesa starts assembly of its G132-5.0 MW prototype, installed in the R&D facility in Alaiz

Gamesa has begun the task of assembling its prototype G132-5.0 MW turbine, which will be equipped with one of the world's largest onshore rotors. To this end it has replaced the blades of the G128-5.0 MW, which has been in operation at the R&D facility in Alaiz (Navarre, Spain) for a year, with those of the G132-5.0 MW, with a view to enabling the turbine to begin to produce energy from the beginning of May.

This assembly job constitutes a logistical challenge for Gamesa: the blades of the G132-5.0 MW, each 64.5 metres in length, are the longest ever transported in Spain and were brought in a single piece from the factory in Aoiz, where they were made, to the R&D facility in Alaiz. The complexity of the transfer required the individual transportation of each blade.

Completion of the assembly work will kick-start the turbine validation and testing process with a view to obtaining type certification by the end of 2015, a prerequisite for industrialising and commercialising this model.

To this end, in addition to the prototype's three blades, the company has made a fourth blade for testing at CENER, Spain's national renewable energy centre. The static tests have already been completed and the fatigue tests (vertical and horizontal movements) are underway; these tests will take 5 months. All of these tests will also help to certify the blade to be installed in the G132-5.0 MW offshore model.

The prototype G132-5.0 MW, with a rotor diameter of 132 metres and a total height of 186 metres, generates 3% more power than the G128-5.0 MW and is capable of generating enough energy to supply 5,000 households for one year.