On October 20, LM Wind Power transported the first 73.5m blade for German Merkur project from its factory at Les Coves in Castellón to the Port of Castellón, from where it will be shipped to Eemshaven. The blade, belonging to a GE 6MW Haliade offshore wind turbine, is the first one of the total of 198 largest blades ever to be produced in and transported through Spain.
The blade for GE’s Haliade 150-6 MW offshore turbine left LM’s factory and travelled 45 kilometers by road to reach the port, arriving ahead of schedule with a 3.5-hour transport time. LM said the duration of the journey is expected to decrease with further blades as the drivers perfect their routine over the coming months.
The turbine installation at the Merkur offshore wind farm site is scheduled to start in February 2018.
The assembly port for the German offshore wind farm is the Eemshaven port in the Netherlands, where all the turbine components will arrive before sailing out to the construction site.
Meanwhile, GE is assembling the turbine nacelles at its site in Saint-Nazaire, as the installation of transition pieces is about to begin at the project site.
The 396MW Merkur offshore wind farm will feature 66 GE’s 6MW wind turbines. The wind farm is being built 35km to the north of the island of Borkum and is scheduled for commissioning in 2018.