GE Renewable Energy and the UK’s Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult announced have signed a five-year research and development agreement which will see GE’s mammoth 12 megawatt (MW) Haliade-X wind turbine head to UK shores for the first time for extensive testing.

The ORE Catapult bills itself as the UK’s leading technology innovation and research center for offshore renewable technology, and is aiming to be the world’s leading offshore technology center by 2023. The Catapult will provide GE Renewable Energy with a wide variety of testing for its turbines, including cooling technologies, converters, loading conditions across mechanical and electrical components, grid testing, and design validation, according to cleantehnica.com.

GE Renewable Energy announced the 12 MW Haliade-X earlier this year, depicting a wind turbine which measures in at 260 meters in height and boasting a 220-meter rotor. Each individual wind turbine is capable of generating 67 gigawatt-hours (GWh) annually — enough to power up to 16,000 homes on its own.

The research and development agreement that was signed between the two organizations will seek to specifically improve turbine platform availability and reliability through highly accelerated life testing — essentially doing a life-span assessment in a much shorter period of time — accelerate prototype certification through rigorous functional testing, and validate the designs, upgrades, and new technologies.