Offshore Wind Turbines in 2024: 20+ MW Prototypes Rolling Out in Europe, China; 16 MW Remains Most Powerful Turbine Installed Offshore

In offshoreWIND.biz‘s 2023 annual wind turbine overview from January 2024, you could have read about the first 16 MW model installed offshore and a 22 MW turbine about to enter development. Fast forward twelve months, a 21 MW prototype in Europe and 22 MW and 26 prototypes in China are expected to soon be installed for testing. While a 20 MW prototype now stands at an onshore test site, 16 MW turbines remained the most powerful installed offshore in 2024.

In October 2024, Dongfang Electric Corporation (DEC) produced the nacelle for a 26 MW offshore wind turbine in Fuzhou in China’s Fujian Province. The company said the model was tailored for areas with wind speeds of 8 m/s and above, with strong resistance to typhoons and corrosion.

With a rotor diameter of more than 310 metres and a swept area equivalent to 10.5 standard football fields, a single unit could generate 100 GWh of clean energy annually in average wind speeds of 10 m/s, enough to power 55,000 homes, according to DEC.

Also in China, Goldwind is rolling out components for a 22 MW offshore wind turbine, with a rotor diameter of 300 metres and a sweep area of 70,000 square metres, equivalent to ​​10 standard football fields.

Goldwind presented the new offshore wind turbine platform in October 2024. The model, GWH300-20 (25) MW, has a generation capacity of between 20 and 25 megawatts and is suitable for installation in deep waters, where it can withstand super typhoons with wind speeds of more than 60 m/s, according to Goldwind.

Siemens Gamesa is expected to soon install a 21 MW offshore wind turbine prototype at the Østerild wind turbine test centre in Denmark.

The company confirmed to offshoreWIND.biz in early December 2024 that it was transporting a nacelle from its facility in Brande to the Danish test centre but declined to disclose any details about the wind turbine. According to Danish media, the nacelle is for a new offshore wind turbine prototype which was reported in June 2024 as having a 21 MW nameplate capacity.

In August 2024, Mingyang installed a 20 MW prototype in Hainan, China, and said this was the world’s largest single-capacity offshore wind turbine. The new platform features flexible power ratings ranging from 18+ MW to 20 MW, coupled with rotor diameters from 260-292 metres and a maximum swept area equivalent to nine football fields.

The turbine is designed for global deployment in medium-to-high wind speed regions, with specific suitability for typhoon-prone sites, being able to withstand winds of up to 79.8 m/s, according to Mingyang’s website. With an average wind speed of 8.5 m/s, the model can generate 80 million kWh annually, the company says.

Dongfang Electric Corporation (DEC) installed an 18 MW offshore wind turbine at a coastal test base in Shantou, Guangdong province, in June 2024.

The model has a rotor diameter of 260 metres and a swept area of 53,000 square metres and can generate 72 GWh of electricity annually, enough to power around 36,000 households, according to the company.

The 2023 annual wind turbine overview on offshoreWIND.biz also included the 18 MW wind turbine that was being developed in the US and selected as the preferred technology for at least one project at the time. The model, announced by GE Vernova in 2023, was dropped from development in 2024 as the company said it wanted to focus on a 15.5/16.5 MW platform.

In 2023, Goldwind installed its first GWH252-16MW turbine at the site of the second phase of China Three Gorges’ Zhangpu Liuao offshore wind farm. In June 2024, Phase 2 of the Zhangpu Liuao offshore wind farm was fully commissioned and became the world’s first commercial project to use 16 MW turbines.

Mingyang Smart Energy, which also rolled out a 16 MW model in 2023, installed the world’s first 16 MW floating wind platform in the summer of 2024. The company’s OceanX floater, which features two MySE8.3-180 hybrid drive wind turbines and has a total capacity of 16.6 MW, was installed at the Qingzhou IV offshore wind farm in Yangjiang in August 2024 and entered operation in December 2024.