Poised to become part of the energy mainstream, wind faces one of its most difficult challenges to date: Scaling output up to the level required by utilities. While it took the industry almost two decades to reach the 1 MW threshold, turbines have eclipsed the 3 MW mark over the past several years. GE Energy's 3.6 MW offshore series, for example, has just finished almost a year of rigorous testing and is now being utilized in a 25 MW development project, Phase 1 of what could be a 520 MW offshore windfarm. The Arklow offshore wind park, recently erected off the southeast coast of Ireland, is the first commercial deployment of wind turbines specifically designed for offshore use in excess of 3 MW per unit.
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