A behind-the-scenes look: The Assembly of Water2Energy’s Vertical Axis Turbine.

Lina and Jeltje of Bluespring had the opportunity to assist Water2Energy at the KAAP in Vlissingen with assembling their vertical axis water turbine in preparation for a re-installation this Spring.

A big thank you to Reinier Rijke for generously sharing his knowledge and guiding us through the assembly process.

The rotor assembly started smoothly, with the blades carefully bolted to the central shaft. The next stage involved a crane truck doing the heavy lifting, carefully mounting and aligning the rotor with great precision into the support frame that houses the generator.

An unexpected issue briefly brought things to a halt: the rotor would refuse to spin. After a thorough investigation, the issue was detected —an uneven steel spacer was placed in the wrong orientation. A mere millimeter difference in a multi-ton structure made all the difference!

This moment gave an important lesson in engineering: precision matters at every scale! Thanks to the sharp problem-solving skills and hands-on experience of the Water2Energy team, the issue was detected and resolved quickly. The team continued to fit all the supporting structures on the frame.

The Offshore For Sure partnership is excited to follow Water2Energy in the months ahead. The next step? Installation is planned for later this Spring at a discharge channel in the harbor of Vlissingen—stay tuned for more updates.

On the 4^th of June, 2025, you can see the turbine as part of the CoP North Sea Meeting, sign up here!

Be sure to watch and enjoy the compilation video we made on YouTube!!