[The Vector] Super Offshore Turbines in Development – Despite Difficulties

A consortium of companies in Spain are planning to build a 15 MW turbine.  The turbine manufacturer Gamesa will lead the €25 million ‘Azimut’ project to build the 15 MW giant together with 11 other wind and engineering companies and 22 research centres, according to a report in Business Green. The Azimut project is expected to run for four years.

Meanwhile, the effort to build the Britannia 10MW offshore turbine seems to have been rescued from the brink of trouble.

All shares in the turbine developer, Clipper Windpower, have been acquired by the engineering multinational United Technologies Corporation. UTC owns technology leaders in a range of sectors, including Pratt & Whitney, Carrier, Sikorsky, and Otis evators. It had an interest of just under 50% in Clipper before the acquisition.

The Clipper Windpower Company manufactures the 2.5 MW Liberty onshore wind turbine as well as developing its Britannia offshore turbine. Clipper’s has offices in both California and the UK, as well as a 330,000 square foot manufacturing and assembly facility, located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

During October, Clipper had admitted that it was under ‘significant liquidity strain’. UTC paid almost one third over Clipper’s share valuation listing on the Stock Exchange, valuing the company at £139.5 million.

Clipper’s 10 MW wind turbines are scheduled for deployment in late 2011. The Britannia will be 175 metres in height. Over its lifetime, the turbine is expected to displace the use of two million barrels of oil and offset 480,000 tons of CO₂. Once the 10 MW turbines enter serial production, they will be deployed initially in European waters.