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
