BREAKING: CTG Installing World’s Largest Wind Turbine Offshore China

June 26, 2023, by Adrijana Buljan

China Three Gorges (CTG) is currently installing a 16 MW wind turbine at a project site offshore southeast Fujian Province, according to Chinese media. The wind turbine, the world’s first with this capacity, is one of the turbines that will make up CTG’s Zhangpu Liuao Phase 2 offshore wind farm.

CTG announced in February that it had started construction of the second phase of its Zhangpu Liuao offshore wind farm and that the 400 MW project would comprise 16 MW wind turbines.

This morning (26 June), the company issued a press release saying the first 13 MW wind turbine was installed in Pingtan, Fujian Province, on 23 June by the wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) Baihetan, which then moved on “to the next position to install the world’s first 16 MW offshore wind turbine”.

Over the past several hours, Chinese media have been reporting that the installation of the 16 MW wind turbine is now underway.

The wind turbine was developed and produced by CTG and Goldwind Science and Technology, with the components for the first unit rolled out in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The model has a hub height of 146 metres, a rotor diameter of 252 metres, 123 metres long blades, and a swept area of around 50,000 square metres.

A single unit is capable of generating 34.2 kWh of electricity per single revolution and more than 66 GWh of clean electricity per year, which can meet the annual electricity consumption of 36,000 households.

The vessel that is installing the wind turbines is also owned by CTG. The WTIV Baihetan, built by CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding, was officially delivered and put into operation on 28 September 2022.

The 126-metre long, 50-metre wide jack-up is equipped with DP2 dynamic positioning system and can work in water depths of up to 70 metres.

Baihetan has a deck area of 4,200 square metres and a 2000-tonne, pile-around full-slewing crane with a maximum variable load of 6,500 tonnes and lifting height of up to 170 metres above the water surface, and is said to be capable of transporting and installing the biggest wind turbines currently available on the market.

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As for the offshore wind farm that CTG is currently building, the total investment in the project is estimated at CNY 6 billion (approximately EUR 830 million; USD 761 million).

The wind farm, located off the southeast side of the Liu’ao Peninsula in Zhangpu, in the southern part of Fujian Province, is the first offshore wind project in this area, according to information from CTG published earlier.

With a generation capacity of 400 MW, Zhangpu Liuao Phase 2 will be able to produce about 1.6 TWh of electricity per year and save about 500,000 tons of standard coal, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 1.36 million tons per year, according to the developer.