China completes installation of world's largest single-unit floating offshore wind turbine

The world's largest single-unit 16-megawatt floating offshore wind turbine "Three Gorges Pilot" was installed on Saturday in waters off Yangjiang, south China's Guangdong Province.

The 16-megawatt floating offshore wind turbine consists of three parts, namely a 16 mw ultra-large capacity wind turbine, a semi-submersible floating platform, and a new mooring system.

With a maximum tip height exceeding 270 meters, the wind turbine rotor has a diameter of 252 meters, with a swept area equivalent to seven standard football fields.

Unlike traditional fixed-bottom turbines that are physically connected to the seabed, it is installed on a semi-submersible floating platform measuring 80.82 meters long, 91 meters wide, and with a displacement of 24,100 tons.

The platform is secured through nine suction anchors, combined with domestically produced high-performance polyester fiber cables and anchor chains for seabed mooring and positioning.

"To deal with the harsh sea conditions, our team has developed and applied a new mooring system, a dynamic monitoring system, an active ballast system, and 66 kV dynamic submarine cables for the first time in China," said Pan Hongguan, an offshore wind power engineer from Guangdong Branch of China Three Gorges Corporation (CTG).

According to Pan, the new mooring system combines polyester cable and anchor chain, which is like adding a "spring" to the middle of the system, to deliver superior mechanical performance.

The "Three Gorges Pilot" wind turbine previously completed its integrated assembly at Tieshan Port in Beihai of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It arrived at its target sea area located more than 70 kilometers off the coast of Yangjiang after a long-distance towed voyage across the Qiongzhou Strait which connects South China's island province of Hainan with Guangdong Province on the mainland.

After being put into operation, the wind turbine is expected to generate approximately 44.65 million kilowatt-hours of clean energy annually, enough to meet the annual electricity demand of 24,000 households.

China completes installation of world's largest single-unit floating offshore wind turbine

China, as Cambodia's most reliable strategic anchor, will continue to firmly support Cambodia in pursuing a development path suited to its national conditions, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks when meeting with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, who is in China for the 11th Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

China stands ready to strengthen strategic communication with Cambodia, jointly meet external challenges and better promote each other's modernization drive, Wang said.

Wang called on both sides to make solid preparations for high-level exchanges in the next stage and safeguard the shared strategic interests of both countries, promote the development of the Industrial Development Corridor and the Fish and Rice Corridor and deepen pragmatic cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture and other fields.

Both sides should sustain a tough crackdown on telecom and online fraud and ensure such crimes never stage a comeback, Wang stressed, calling on both sides to step up coordination on multilateral platforms.

Prak Sokhonn said he appreciates China's invitation for the Cambodian and Thai foreign ministers to hold an informal tea talk, which embodies China's constructive position of settling dispute through peace and dialogue.

Hailing China's important role in the LMC, Prak Sokhonn said China is Cambodia's most trusted partner, adding that Cambodia reaffirms its commitment to the one-China principle, supports China's great cause of peaceful national reunification, and opposes "Taiwan independence" in any form.

Cambodia is willing to work with China to deliver on the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, strengthen alignment of development strategies between the two sides, keep up the crackdown on online gambling and telecom fraud crimes, and continuously elevate bilateral law enforcement and security cooperation, Prak Sokhonn said.

China backs Cambodia on development path suited to its national conditions: top diplomat