China has pulled off another jaw-dropping engineering feat, this time in renewable energy. In the coastal city of Beihai, engineers have assembled the world’s largest floating offshore wind turbine, and its blades cover an area about the size of seven soccer fields laid side by side. The 16-megawatt giant isn’t staying put for long – it’s about to be towed into waters more than 160 feet deep for testing before plugging into the grid.
What really stands out here is that everything about this turbine was made in China. The mooring cables, gearboxes, and even the ballast control systems were all designed and manufactured locally. That’s a big deal for a country that has been doubling down on energy independence, and it shows how far its clean tech industry has come. The rotor alone measures a staggering 252 meters across – about 826 feet – making it the largest spinning system of its kind anywhere in the world.
Once it starts running, the turbine is expected to generate nearly 45 million kilowatt-hours of electricity each year. To put that into perspective, that’s enough juice to power around 4,000 U.S. homes. It sits on a semi-submersible platform equipped with a clever ballast system that shifts water around inside its three giant columns. This helps the platform automatically balance itself when strong waves or gusty winds hit, reducing the chance of a shutdown and keeping energy flowing.
The plan is to move the turbine out to deeper waters, where winds are stronger and steadier than closer to shore. Fixed-bottom turbines can’t operate there, which is why floating designs like this one are seen as the future of offshore wind. The project is being spearheaded by the China Three Gorges Corporation, the same company that built the world’s largest hydropower dam. Now it’s turning that big-project experience toward offshore wind, and the results are already making headlines.
This isn’t just about bragging rights. China’s leaders have put offshore wind front and center in their clean energy strategy. At a key economic meeting this past summer, President Xi Jinping even called it a major driver of the country’s marine economy. If this record-breaking turbine performs as expected, it could mark the start of a new wave of projects that push wind power further offshore and deeper into China’s long-term energy plans.