According to statistics, nearly 60% of the wind power equipment on the global market is produced in China, and by the end of 2022, the cumulative installed capacity of global offshore wind power reached 57.6 GW, and the cumulative installed capacity of China reached 30.51 GW, accounting for 53% of the global market share, and China’s export of wind power equipment is growing rapidly, with a cumulative export capacity of 11.93 million kilowatts, which has covered 49 countries and regions. Three Gorges Group is one of the earliest central enterprises in China to develop offshore wind power, and its subsidiary Three Gorges Energy has nearly 5 million kilowatts of installed offshore wind power in grid operation, ranking first in China, and its large-scale development has provided abundant application scenarios for scientific and technological innovations such as large-scale offshore wind turbines.
The 16 MW offshore wind turbine connected to the grid is the world’s first 16 MW commercialization demonstration application unit, in the main bearings, blades and transmission chain of the wind turbine to achieve major breakthroughs, with a high degree of digitalization. The relevant person in charge of Three Gorges Energy introduced: “The unit will comprehensively test the design performance in the process of commercial operation, and provide technical support for the future large-scale batch application of 16 MW offshore wind turbines.”
The unit is located in the sea area by the Taiwan Strait “narrow tube effect”, more than 300 days a year more than 6 wind gusts, more than 200 days more than 7 wind gusts, the average annual wind speed of more than 9 meters per second, the average annual number of hours of offshore wind power can be utilized up to 3,500 hours to 4,000 hours, wind resource conditions are excellent for large-capacity wind turbines in batch. The wind resource conditions are excellent, providing unique conditions for the utilization of large-capacity wind turbines in large quantities.
The height of the hub center of the 16 MW offshore wind turbine is 152 meters, and the combined weight of the nacelle and generator reaches 385 tons, which is equivalent to the weight of 190 cross-country vehicles; the single blade is 123 meters long and weighs 54 tons, and the impeller sweeps the wind over an area of about 50,000 square meters, which is equivalent to the size of about 7 standard soccer fields. According to the wind data of the sea for many years, a single 16 MW wind turbine can generate 34.2 kWh of electricity for each revolution, and can output more than 66 million kWh of clean electricity annually, which can meet the living electricity consumption of 36,000 families for a year, and is equivalent to saving about 22,000 tons of standard coal, and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 54,000 tons. This unit produces more than 66 million kilowatt-hours of “green power” per year, and is the offshore wind turbine with the largest single-machine capacity, the largest impeller diameter, and the lightest unit weight per megawatt that has been put into operation in the world.
“16 MW unit blade long, large capacity, high power generation efficiency, can be fully converted into a steady stream of green and clean electricity in Fujian high-quality wind resources, and at the same time to achieve intensive use of the sea, reduce the cost of electricity, is the development of affordable offshore wind power, the base of the development of an important material security. The next step, 16 MW units will be in the Three Gorges Group construction of Zhangpu Liu Ao offshore wind farm phase II project to achieve batch application, to promote the centralized and continuous large-scale development of offshore wind power, to achieve high-quality development of the offshore wind power industry to contribute to the power of the Three Gorges.” The person in charge of Fujian Company of Three Gorges Group said.