Chinese Companies Claim To Have Made The First-Ever 16 MW Wind Turbine

China Three Gorges Corporation (CTG) and Xinjiang Goldwind Sci & Tech Co., Ltd. have announced a world-leading 16-megawatt wind turbine in Fujian province with the largest impeller diameter ever constructed.

The 16MW unit is the world’s highest-rated unit to date, supporting a turbine with a 252-metre rotor diameter and a swept area of 50,000 metres.

Furthermore, as reported by Interesting Engineering, this new turbine will significantly help power houses while saving 22,000 tons of coal and 54,000 tons of carbon dioxide every year. This turbine has a 480-foot hub, the least weight per megawatt, and an 827-foot impeller diameter.

“The successful roll-out of the 16MW unit marks that my country’s wind power equipment industry has achieved a historic leap from ‘following’ to ‘running alongside’ and then to ‘leading,’ creating the latest benchmark for the development of global offshore wind power equipment, ” said CTG chairman Lei Mingshan.

According to the CTG CEO, the model was created in response to Chinese authorities requirements for the independent development of innovative technology that meets international standards in essential fields.

“The 16MW unit has made important technological breakthroughs in the R&D and manufacturing of key core components such as large main shaft bearings and ultra-long lightweight blades,” Goldwind chief engineer Zhai Endi added.

“The digital level of unit operation status monitoring is high, and it can intelligently adjust the operation mode for severe weather such as typhoons.”

The Goldwind/CTG announcement comes as Chinese competitor MingYang, also working on a 16MW model, announced plans to deploy a 14MW model next year at the same time, reports surfaced that CSSC Haizhuang will put out its own 16.7MW offshore design.

The OEMs are aiming for success in China’s massive domestic offshore wind market, which is now the world’s largest, and growing further afield, where they hope to give an alternative to western rivals who have previously dominated outside Chinese waters.