Member’s News: Offshore Wind Development in China – Status and Perspective

Member’s News: Offshore Wind Development in China – Status and Perspective

With a 18,000 km long coastline, more than 6,000 islands, and 3 million km² of available sea area, China has exceptional offshore wind resource potential. Offshore wind energy resources are mainly concentrated in the South East coast and the islands nearby, where the effective wind energy density is more than 300 W/m². For water depth of 5 ~ 25 m and height of 50 m, the development potential of offshore wind power is about 200 GW. For water depth of 5 ~ 50 m and height of 75 m, the development potential is about 500 GW. China’s electricity demand is concentrated along its eastern coastline. Offshore wind represents an attractive energy solution in these areas.

Founded in Guangdong Province, a coastal province with a large population, the thought of developing a marine economy has been deeply rooted in Mingyang Smart Energy Group’s genes. When the company first started in the renewable energy industry, Mingyang decided that offshore wind would be the focus of future development. Based on this understanding, Mingyang initiated research on offshore wind technology in 2006. After years of development, Mingyang has become one of the few wind turbine manufacturers in China that have mastered the R&D capability and manufacturing technology of larger-capacity offshore turbines. At present, Mingyang has introduced large offshore turbine models with a rated power of 5.5MW, 6.45MW, 7.25MW, 8.3MW, and a rotor diameter of 155-meter, 158-meter, 180-meter. Mingyang unveiled its MySE11(MW)-203 in July 2020, making it the largest hybrid- drive turbine in the world. This super large offshore turbine demonstrates the independent innovation achievements of Mingyang in high-end equipment manufacturing and core technologies.

In addition, China’s offshore wind conditions are complex. Areas to the south of the Yangtze River mouth experience several typhoons every year. Mingyang, as one of the companies with abundant wind turbine operation experience in typhoon regions, has a variety of first-mover advantages. By mastering massive data, Mingyang analysed the wind speed and direction, turbulence intensity, wind shear, and gust coefficient of typhoons and turbine operation status under typhoon conditions, integrating the research results into the design of anti-typhoon capabilities of MySE platform. Through years of innovation, learning and improvement, Mingyang has formed the technical advantage of typhoon-resistant offshore wind turbine, enabling the sophisticated MySE platform to meet the harshest requirements of typhoon conditions.

Driven by large-scale development needs of wind resources in deep, remote offshore areas, Mingyang has also increased investments in the R&D of floating offshore wind turbines, floating solution and the capacity building of professional technicians.

Looking to the future, 2020 is the last year of China’s 13th Five-year plan, as well as the year when China’s wind power industry strides from the era of subsidy to the era of auction. Mingyang is confident to welcome the new strategic implementation period and drive the industry into the era of zero-subsidy with innovation.