Siemens' new test center in Brande features test stands for major components of Siemens wind turbines, including generators, main bearings and complete nacelles.

And in Aalborg, Siemens reports that seven blade test stands are capable of performing full scale tests of rotor blades, up to sizes in the order of the world's largest blade in operation (with a length of 75 metres) and beyond.

The two test centres feature indoor testing facilities of more than 27,000 square metres. The nacelle test stands in Brande are are capable of testing Siemens' D6 direct drive platform, the company's largest current wind turbines with a six megawatt rated capacity, and are prepared to test even larger turbines.

In its new test facilities, Siemens says it can perform Highly Accelerated Lifetime Tests (HALT) on all major components of its direct drive and geared wind turbine platforms. In HALT testing programs, which can last to up to six months, testing regimes like the new one from Siemens exposes prototypes to much higher loads than they would normally experience over the course their full life-time in the field.

"In HALT tests, we compress the biggest loads over a short time, as they affect the turbine the most", says Siemens Wind Power CEO Ferlemann. During the HALT test of blades, for example, full-scale prototypes are oscillated at larger deflections than they would ever experience on site for 2 million cycles vertically and then for another 2 million cycles horizontally.