During Science Week 2024 we organised a fantastic visit to Siemens Gamesa, blade factory in Hull for a group of students studying engineering at Teesside University. The students are currently working on an offshore wind turbine project as part of challenge brief from offshore wind company RWE. For this challenge, students are tasked to explore innovative ways of inspecting wind turbine blades once installed out at sea.
The visit to Siemens Gamesa included a tour around the manufacturing site where students could see the processes involved in blade manufacturing. Siemens Gamesa are currently undergoing a huge expansion build to the factory to not only meet the demand for offshore wind development but to accommodate the enormous increase in dimensions of the blades now required. Since the factory opened 8 years ago, the blade lengths have increased from around 70m to 108m and will be increasing further to just over 130m. Seeing the size of these blades at first hand was incredible and we would like to thank Siemens Gamesa, Hull for providing this valuable insight.
