China’s Deep-Sea Floating Wind Platform Heads Offshore

March 27, 2023, by Adnan Memija

China’s “first” deep-sea floating wind platform has set sail from Zhuhai in south China’s Guangdong province to Wenchang, Hainan province.

CNOOC Guanlan; Photo: Mingyang Smart Energy

The platform, named CNOOC Guanlan, is owned by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and is China’s first offshore wind power project with a water depth of over 100 meters and an offshore distance of over 100 kilometers, according to the news on the Chinese Government’s website.

The platform will be installed in an oil field located 136 kilometres from Wenchang in Hainan province. The system will be connected to the offshore oilfield group’s power grid providing sustainable energy for oil and gas production.

CNOOC Guanlan features Mingyang Smart Energy’s MySE 7.25-158 hybrid drive typhoon-proof wind turbine.

The unit is capable of withstanding up to a level 17 typhoon with a maximum average wind speed of over 60 metres per second for ten minutes.

The wind turbine will generate 22 million kilowatt-hours of clean electricity annually and save nearly ten million cubic metres of fuel gas, said Mingyang Smart Energy.

According to a recent report published by the World Forum Offshore Wind (WFO), 9.4 GW of offshore wind capacity was installed worldwide in 2022 and China alone installed 6.8 GW of this.

There were 42 new offshore wind farms that went into operation last year and 29 of these were installed in China.

The country’s top position in adding new offshore wind capacity will likely be preserved in 2023 as well, as China is also leading in projects currently under construction, according to WFO’s report.