MHI Vestas Offshore Wind will serial manufacture the 80 metres blade for the V164-8.0MW on the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of the UK.
The announcement is the first part of a wider industrialisation strategy in the UK which is expected to result in up to GBP 200 million worth of economic impact, including investment and safeguarding or creating up to 800 jobs. As part of the strategy MHI Vestas Offshore Wind will lease the production hall at Vestas’ blades technology centre on the Isle of Wight from 1 January 2015. Production of blades could commence in the second quarter of 2015 depending upon a pipeline of firm and unconditional orders. The R&D facility on the Isle of Wight was opened in 2011 and was specifically designed to develop large blades for the latest wind turbines. The facility consists of two halls 170m long and 50m wide, one for testing and verification, and one for blade production, which will be leased by MHI Vestas Offshore Wind.
