China's independently developed 20-megawatt floating offshore wind turbine, the world's most powerful one so far, has rolled off the production line in Sheyang County of east China's Jiangsu Province, its developer CRRC Corporation Limited (CRRC) announced on Thursday.
With a propeller diameter of 260 meters, the wind turbine covers a sweeping area of 531,000 square meters, equivalent to seven standard soccer fields.
Capable of generating of 62 million Kwh of electricity in clean energy per year, a single unit of the wind turbine can satisfy the annual power consumption demand of around 37,000 households. This is equivalent to saving 25,000 tons of coals and cutting 62,000 tons of carbon dioxide emission each year.
Real-time monitoring of the wind turbine can be realized as it is equipped with multiple smart control and sensing technologies to ensure stable operation.
Located on a semi-submerged floating offshore wind platform, the floating offshore wind turbine could further utilize the wind power on the sea by allowing the deployment of wind turbines in larger and deeper offshore areas with higher wind potential.
"Traditional offshore wind turbines are based on structures fixed into the ocean floor, while floating wind turbines are given more leeway as they may drift with waves. Currently, floating wind power generation represents an important technological direction of the future of wind power development," said Wang Dian, deputy general manager of a CRRC's new energy technology subsidiary.
The floating wind turbine will be tested in Dongying City of east China's Bohai Sea coastal province of Shandong and will be installed later in a deep-sea area to be connected to the power grid , according to sources familiar with the project.
World's most powerful floating offshore wind turbine rolls off production line
