Siemens Gamesa has begun the construction of the world’s largest wind turbine blade test stand in Aalborg, Denmark.

The new facility will be capable of performing full-scale tests on the next generations of Siemens Gamesa rotor blades and is expected to be fully operational before the end of the year, the company said.

According to Siemens Gamesa, this investment will represent additional savings for clients as it will reduce the risk of technical issues.

The structure will have more steel rebar reinforcement per square meter than a turbine foundation so that it has the capability to accelerate the test and prove full reliability over the lifetime of the blade in the shortest possible time, while respecting IEC regulations, the company said.

“The first tests will be on the 94 meter-long blades for the SG 10.0-193 DD offshore wind turbine, which are almost the same length as one soccer field. We are however building the test stand to accommodate the blade sizes that we will see in the future,” said Vicente García Muñoz, Head of Validation Means Management at SGRE.

Siemens Gamesa launched the SG 10.0-193 DD, its first 10+ MW offshore wind turbine, at the beginning of the year.

The 10MW rating is made possible through a larger generator diameter, building on the Siemens Gamesa Direct Drive generator technology. Commercial market deployment is expected in 2022.