China giant installs world’s biggest offshore wind turbine for testing

Chinese state-owned manufacturer Dongfang Electric has installed a 26 megawatt (MW) offshore wind turbine, the largest in the world, at a testing facility in China.

Dongfang Electric, which is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of power generation equipment, says the 26 MW offshore wind turbine has been installed at the Wind Power Equipment Testing and Certification Innovation Base in Dongying, a city in the Shandong province on the northern coast of China.

According to Dongfang, this marks a pair of new world records for both the largest capacity wind turbine and the turbine with the largest rotor diameter, measuring in at 310-metres.

Image Credit: Dongfang Electric, via Weibo

It is also believed that the turbine’s blades are record breakers as well, coming in at a whopping 153 metres in length, helping to deliver a wind-swept area of 77,000 square metres.

For comparison, the playing surface of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) is only 22,000 square metres.

The turbine reportedly consists of over 30,000 parts and utilises third generation fully integrated semi-direct drive technology with highly integrated shafting, gearbox, and generator. The turbine also features a fully sealed structure to prevent salt spray corrosion and incorporates a dual internal and external cooling system.

It is also dual typhoon-resistant and can withstand so-called “super typhoons”.

Each unit can provide capacity ranging from 20 to 26 MW to meet the requirements of different projects depending on the wind zones, but when fully operational and at full capacity, each turbine can generate 62 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per revolution.

In turn, at wind speeds of an average of 10-metres per second, a single unit is capable of generating 100 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity each year, the equivalent power needed to meet the needs of 55,000 homes.

One of Dongfang’s 26 MW turbines rolled off its production lines in October of last year.

“The 26MW offshore wind turbine blades overcome the difficulties of aerodynamic and structural coupling, achieving a multi-objective design objective, including ultra-long blades with low load, high efficiency, and high reliability, providing a solution for efficient wind energy conversion,” said a spokesperson for Dongfang Electric.

“Compared to traditional solutions, the drive train solution employed in this turbine achieves higher power generation efficiency, increasing overall power generation by more than 2 per cent.

“It can effectively control the initial investment and long-term operation and maintenance costs, significantly reduce the cost per kilowatt-hour, and fully adapt to the development needs of offshore wind power parity.”