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China recently unveiled what it says is the largest and most powerful floating offshore wind turbine in the world.
The reason this is being viewed as a substantial claim is that the country is now announcing record breaking floating wind turbine technology in the one major area of renewable energy where it does not currently hold global leadership.
CRRC Corporation Limited (CRRC) is the top train maker in China. It has announced that this new massive wind turbine has a capacity for electricity generation that is as high as 20 MW, and the first one has now completed its production in Yancheng city.
The next largest wind turbine is in the North Sea
To help gain perspective on the size of the new wind turbines in China, the next step is to look at the previous largest units, which are installed and operating in the Norwegian North Sea. They are owned and operated by Hywind and have a system capacity of 88 MW generated by 11 units. They each have an 8.6 MW capacity.
The unit in China was developed and made independently in the country and has a 260-meter (853-foot) rotor diameter. Its sweep area has been compared to about the size of seven standard soccer fields, according to the company.
One turbine can power dozens of thousands of households per year
The total electricity generation from the new unit is expected to be able to power around 37,000 households per year. This would replace the need for the use of 25,000 tons of coal, slashing carbon emissions by around 62,000 according to CRRC.
“Floating offshore wind turbines are a key technological trend shaping the future of wind energy development,” said CRRC Qi Hang New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. deputy general manager Wang Dian.
This is moving China into an area of renewable energy where – unlike all the other major categories of clean power – it has not established dominance in the world. This may be an indicator that it is now taking aim at the floating wind farm market as well.
