Record-Breaking Monopiles Roll Out in China

Two of the largest and heaviest monopiles in the world have been fabricated in China.

Weighing in at 1,600 tons, the monopiles are the first of 500 to be manufactured for SPIC Guangdong Offshore Wind Power’s offshore wind projects in the Guangdong province.

According to Ramboll, the designer of the foundations, the monopiles are installed at 37m, which represents the greatest water depth for wind turbines in China so far.

”Ramboll completed the design of the two monopiles super-fast so that the design and fabrication took less than 5 months, which is 2-3 times faster than usual,” said Ramboll Global Market Director Søren Juel Petersen.

SPIC Guangdong owns the permits for the installation of 3.2GW of offshore wind energy in the Guangdong province, with the offshore wind farms set to be located near the cities of Shenzhen and Jieyang.

“Guangdong is the province with the highest GDP in mainland China, and it is also one of the richest and the most populous in the nation,” said Zhang Yi, Chief Engineer of SPIC Guangdong Electric Power Co., Ltd.

“In this province we see an increasing demand for energy as well as a demand to reduce air pollution in the cities. We can meet the demand from the population for clean energy with wind energy, which can now commercially compete with coal and other fossil fuels. So we need this wind farm now and we need it fast.”