Featuring flexible 66-metre, 23.5-tonne glass-reinforced plastic blades, the new 5MW offshore turbine — being marketed as the M5000-135 — will have a rotor diameter 19 metres wider than the current production model, with a swept area of 14,326 square metres. That is almost 4,000 square metres more than the 116.
The aim in developing the larger M5000, which will have a 365-tonne top-head, has been to “increase power production without jeopardising track record”, says Areva Wind research and development director René Balle.
“The
