A lighthouse factory of the Global Lighthouse Network (GLN) producing blades for wind turbines in central China's Hunan Province is upgrading toward smart manufacturing to raise efficiency and fill orders.
The factory - Sany Renewable Energy's blade factory in Hunan's Shaoshan City - has been recognized as the world's first lighthouse factory in the wind power sector.
The GLN was formed when the World Economic Forum (WEF) teamed up with McKinsey and Company in 2018 to identify the most innovative leaders in manufacturing.
The WEF introduces the GLN as a globally recognized community transforming factory and value chain operations with Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, with each member indisputably a leader in its respective industry.
Currently, the factory in Shaoshan can produce blades up to 118 meters in length. For a single 100-meter-class blade, production time has been reduced from an average of over 40 hours to some 30 hours.
As one of the core components, blades directly impact the wind turbine's power generation performance and full-lifecycle reliability, typically accounting for 20 percent to 30 percent of the total unit cost.
As Asia's largest single-site wind turbine blade production facility, the factory can accommodate 12 molds operating simultaneously, producing approximately 3,000 80-meter-long onshore blades annually.
Peng Haibing, deputy general manager of the factory, said the factory is kicking into high gear to fill orders.
"The factory operates at full capacity year-round. Taking October as an example, the production output from eight molds yielded 174 (100-meter class) blades, with over 100 sets shipped. The annual production capacity is concentrated in this month, and the next two months will also see significant delivery volumes," said Peng.
Amid the current trend toward larger wind turbines, blade lengths have rapidly surpassed 100 meters.
Beyond fast production speeds, blades must also feature high strength, light weight, and minimal manufacturing deviations.
The stringent demands on materials and processes also elevate the requirements for this blade factory's transformation to smart manufacturing.
Hence, they have adopted a digital platform to monitor all factory operations and production data in real time.
Technical indicators ranging from temperature and humidity in production units to blade grinding flatness coefficients are displayed instantly on the platform, enabling 360-degree online monitoring and precision management.
"The digital platform can be deemed as the 'smart brain' of our factory. It's like building a virtual factory on our computer that mirrors the actual workshop exactly. It has helped us reduce defects by about 20 percent and shorten delivery time by approximately 34 percent," said Xie Mengru, an engineer of the Intelligent Energy Research Institute under Sany Renewable Energy.
A Morgan Stanley research report indicates that China's wind turbine installed capacity has maintained rapid growth in recent years. New installations reached 54 gigawatts in the first seven months of 2025, with an annual increase projected at approximately 106 gigawatts.
During the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), annual new installations are expected to exceed 110 gigawatts.
Wind turbine equipment prices have also risen compared to last year.
In the first eight months of 2025, bidding prices for onshore turbines (excluding towers) went up by 8 percent compared to 2024, while offshore turbine prices rose by 12 percent, driving up profitability in the wind power equipment industry.
China's wind power lighthouse factory in Shaoshan goes smart to elevate efficiency
