China's Three Gorges Corporation (CTG) said that it has completed the operation and grid connection of offshore wind turbines with a capacity of 20MW, the world's first super-capacity turbine installed and successfully operated at sea.
According to CTG, this is currently the strongest offshore wind turbine globally starting commercial power generation, located at the Liuao offshore wind power project phase II, more than 30km from the southern coast of Fujian province, in an area with a water depth of over 40m.
The 20MW turbine has completed the installation, trial run and officially put electricity into the grid last weekend. CTG affirmed that this is the first time in the world a super-capacity offshore wind turbine has fully achieved the steps from installation, technical adjustment to grid connection in deep sea conditions.
Mr. Giang Quang Cau - Deputy General Director of CTG branch in Fujian - said that the technical team had to overcome many major challenges such as strong monsoons, complex sea conditions and particularly strict technical requirements to complete the project on schedule.
This turbine creates an important technical foundation for the development of offshore wind power in deeper sea areas in the future," Mr. Giang emphasized.
In terms of scale, the turbine tower is 174m high above sea level, equivalent to a 58-story building. The diameter of the fan blade is up to 300m, with a sweeping area of approximately 10 standard football fields.
When operating in standard conditions, each turbine can produce more than 80 million kWh of electricity per year. This amount of electricity is sufficient to meet the annual domestic needs of about 44,000 households, while helping to save about 22,000 tons of standard coal, thereby significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
CTG said that the development of offshore wind turbines with such large capacity poses many complex technological problems. One of the key breakthroughs is the new aerodynamic design of the propeller, allowing optimal wind energy harvesting capacity in harsh offshore conditions.
In addition, thanks to the application of lightweight materials and digital technology integration, the turbine weight per MW of capacity has decreased by more than 20% compared to the industry average. This not only improves wind exploitation efficiency but also significantly improves overall power generation efficiency.
Observers believe that the successful operation of the 20MW offshore wind turbine by the Chinese Three Gorges Group continues to consolidate China's leading position in the field of renewable energy, especially large-scale offshore wind power.
