GE reported today that the manufacturing of the first commercial series of Haliade™ nacelles is soon to be completed at its offshore wind turbine plant in Saint-Nazaire, France, with the nacelles scheduled to begin their voyage to the U.S. in mid-July.
The five 370-tonne nacelles will equip the Block Island offshore wind farm, the first of its kind in the U.S, situated off the coast of Providence, Rhode Island. The Haliade™ turbines will be installed starting in August.
With a total capacity of 30MW, the Block Island offshore farm will produce 125,000MWh of electricity per year, enough to supply electric power to 17,000 households. It will be connected to the grid by the end of 2016.
The industrial site at Saint-Nazaire, inaugurated in December 2014, was designed to produce up to 100 turbines per year. The plant currently employs 140 people; in the long term, it will have as many as 300 employees.
The Saint-Nazaire plant will also be the assembly site for 66 wind turbines intended for the Merkur wind farm in Germany, followed by the 238 turbines slated to equip the three French wind farms in Saint-Nazaire, Courseulles-sur-Mer and Fécamp installed by EDF Energies Nouvelles.