Three Gorges launches history-making wind farm off Fujian shores

The launch of a giant offshore wind farm with the world's largest per-unit capacity in China marks a breakthrough in high-end wind turbine manufacturing and deep-sea offshore wind power construction capabilities, said industry analysts.

The world's first offshore wind farm using 16-megawatt turbines was put into operation and started power generation on Wednesday off China's Fujian province, representing an important breakthrough for China's offshore wind power industry, said its operator China Three Gorges Corp.

The 16 MW turbines, equipped with a 152-meter hub, has the world's longest impeller diameter of 252 meters, a swept area of around 50,000 square meters and the lightest per-MW weight, the company said.

The wind farm is capable of producing more than 66 gigawatt-hours of clean electricity per year, capable of meeting the annual power needs of 36,000 households and equivalent to saving about 22,000 metric tons of standard coal and reducing approximately 54,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, it said.

An analyst said the offshore wind sector is considered a key facilitator of long-term climate goals in China, as the country is going full throttle to develop renewable energy to meet its ambitious carbon peak goals by 2030.

"Chinese dominance of the fast-expanding global offshore wind sector is expected to further deepen this year, with expansion plans expected to continue apace," said Luo Zuoxian, head of intelligence and research at the Sinopec Economics and Development Research Institute.

China installed more than two-thirds of all new offshore wind capacity added globally in 2022, according to a latest annual report published by industry body World Forum Offshore Wind (WFO).

Out of the 9.4 GW sea-based projects completed in 2022, some 70 percent (6.8 GW) were off the Chinese coast, WFO said in its Global Offshore Wind 2022 report. Installations in international waters are forecast to reach 18.4 GW in 2023, with China accounting for "over half" of this total, and then will climb to 45.7 GW by the end of the decade, it said.

Lei Mingshan, chairman of China Three Gorges Corp, said China's wind turbine manufacturing has led the globe after rapid development.

The company said nearly 60 percent of global wind power equipment is currently produced in China. As of the end of 2022, the cumulative installed capacity of global offshore wind power reached 57.6 GW, with China accounting for 30.51 GW, or a 53 percent market share.

China's wind power equipment exports have been growing rapidly, with a cumulative export capacity of 11.93 million kilowatts, covering 49 countries and regions, it said.