China’s Three Gorges Energy has successfully connected the world’s largest offshore wind turbine to the grid. MingYang Smart Energy designed the massive turbine, named the MySE 16-260. It has a rotor diameter of 260 meters and stands on a tower 152 meters high. The motor section and generator component weigh 385 tons on their own. The three 123-meter-long blades add an extra 54 tons to the total weight.
Three Gorges Energy’s giant turbine sweeps an area of approximately 50,000 square meters with every full turn. This is equivalent to the area of seven football pitches. With every turn, the turbine provides 34.2 kWh of energy to China’s power grid. This means about 66 gigawatt-hours of energy per year.
World’s Largest Offshore Wind Turbine
The giant turbine is located at the Fujian offshore wind farm in the Taiwan Strait. This location creates a natural wind tunnel effect, increasing the efficiency of the turbine. According to Three Gorges Energy, this area faces 7-level “near-strong wind” conditions with wind speeds of 51 kilometers per hour 200 days a year.
Typhoons frequently occur in this area, and the turbine’s design enables it to withstand winds gusting up to 287 kilometers per hour. This provides a safety margin above the wind speed of 260 kilometers per hour, which represents the most severe condition recorded during the Tip Typhoon in 1979. However, it is difficult to predict what the future holds, as weather conditions are becoming increasingly unstable due to climate change.
It appears that offshore wind turbines will continue to grow. In January, the China State Shipbuilding Corporation began constructing an 18-megawatt turbine, and they are expected to announce a 20-megawatt turbine in the near future.