China debuts an offshore wind turbine with the world’s largest rotor diameter

A 13.6 megawatt (MW) offshore wind turbine with a record-breaking rotor diameter of 252 meters (827 feet) has debuted in China ahead of the country’s 20th Party Congress in Beijing, which opened yesterday.

World’s largest rotor diameter

The offshore wind turbine, which was announced on October 13 as having rolled off the production line in Fuqing City, east China’s Fujian Province, covers a swept area of 50,000 square meters (538,196 square feet), which is equivalent to seven soccer fields, the state-run People’s Daily reported on Saturday.

The wind turbine is now the largest single-unit turbine in the Asia-Pacific region, and its rotor diameter beats the previous title holder, Danish wind giant Vestas’ V236-15.0 MW turbine, which has a rotor diameter of 236 meters (774 feet).

The Chinese press reports that the new offshore wind turbine can generate 63.5 million kWh per year, and it’s capable of supplying 30,000 “three-person households” (the average Chinese household has three people) with power, according to Chinese media.

It is reported to be able to reduce coal by 19,000 metric tons and CO2 emissions by 48,000 metric tons.

The turbine maker isn’t explicitly named in Chinese state media reports, but it’s fairly apparent that it’s Beijing-headquartered multinational wind turbine maker Goldwind, as seen in the video below:

Electrek’s Take

Once I got past the awkward use of the words “impeller” and “propeller” used by Chinese media in English, I came to realize that Goldwind had broken the record for largest rotor diameter with this giant offshore wind turbine.

Let’s move past the political slant of this news to recognize that this is yet another major engineering feat that will help China move off fossil fuels. The whole world will benefit from that.

Read more: The world’s most powerful wind turbine will make its debut in Scotland

Photo: Goldwind

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