Three Gorges Energy has connected the world''s first 16-megawatt monster offshore wind turbine to the power grid. With a mind-boggling 260-meter (853-ft) rotor diameter, this towering colossus will supply clean energy for about 36,000 Chinese homes.
Every time it completes a full revolution, it sweeps about 50,000 sq m (540,000 sq ft) of air (that''s seven-odd soccer fields in the internationally accepted layman''s units), and sends up to 34.2 kWh of energy into the Chinese power system. Annually, it''s expected to contribute about 66 gigawatt-hours.
This demonstration unit sits in the Fujian offshore wind farm in the Taiwan Strait, where it''ll take advantage of a natural wind tunnel effect. According to the Three Gorges Group, this location experiences level 7 "near gale" conditions with winds exceeding 32 mph (51 km/h) more than 200 days each year.
Indeed, the area is prone to typhoons, so this enormous turbine has an opportunity to prove its mettle against the elements. It''s designed to withstand winds up to 179 mph (287 km/h) – that leaves a margin over the most violent conditions ever measured in the Western North Pacific: Typhoon Tip, which featured sustained winds of 160 mph (260 km/h) in 1979. Mind you, the way weather systems are flying off kilter as climate change continues to advance, it''s hard to know what to expect going forward.
Offshore wind turbines will continue to grow in size; the China State Shipbuilding Corporation was already building an 18-megawatt turbine back in January and it seems reasonable to expect a 20-MW announcement any day now.
The area of a circle being pi times the square of the radius, every meter added to the length of a turbine''s blades has an outsized effect on the swept area from which energy can be harvested, so bigger is definitely better.
The engineering and logistics involved in manufacturing and deploying these things are thus getting wilder by the day, and both Mingyang and the Three Gorges Group have earned themselves a beer by getting this monster completed and into service.
The China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) is upping the ante on offshore wind, announcing it''s building the largest and most powerful wind turbine ever, making a peak 18 megawatts with an enormous 260-meter (853-ft) diameter on its three-bladed rotor.
It makes sense for a shipbuilding enterprise to get involved with this project; the blades of much smaller turbines are already a huge pain to transport, so building them right next to a dock in a facility designed for making, handling and launching enormous structures into the water eliminates a ton of problems as you attempt to go bigger.
Size is paramount when it comes to wind; the longer your blades, the larger the swept area and the more energy you can harvest from a single pole – and when it comes to offshore wind, the sea-bed foundations carry an outsized cost, so being able to generate more from fewer locations is a big deal.
The previous record-holder, the MingYang Smart Energy MySE 16.0-242 uses 118-m (387-ft) blades to sweep a 46,000-sq-m (495,140-sq-ft) area. CSSC Haizhuang''s new H260-18MW turbine increases the blade length by 8.5%, to 128 m (420 ft), bumping up the swept area by 15.2% to 53,000 sq m (570,490 sq ft).
In the de facto standard for putting huge areas in some kind of human context, that''s a jump from about 8.6 standard NFL football fields'' worth of swept area to about 9.9. Under peak conditions, the H260-18MW machine will generate 44.8 kWh of energy every time it spins.
Weirdly, it promises to deliver less power at the end of the day than the smaller MingYang turbine. CSSC says the new size king of offshore wind, "can output more than 74 million kilowatt-hours of clean electricity per year, which can meet the annual electricity consumption of 40,000 households of three," while MingYang says, "a single MySE 16.0-242 turbine can generate 80,000 MWh of electricity every year, enough to power more than 20,000 households." Those sound like some wildly different households.
CSSC says that an example 1-gigawatt capacity offshore wind farm using these 18-MW beasts would require 13% fewer units than if you''d used 16-MW turbines, and the corresponding reduction in sea bed work, cabling and whatnot would reduce the cost of the farm by "hundreds of millions of yuan," with each 100 million yuan representing about US$14.8 million at current exchange rates.
The SeaTitan™ 10MW wind turbine designed by American energy technologies company AMSC is currently the biggest wind turbine in the world. The direct-drive turbine, with 190m rotor diameter, has a rated power capacity of 10MW and hub height of 125m.
AMSC started developing the turbine in 2010 and completed the design in 2012. The generator for the wind turbine has been tested by the US Navy in harsh offshore conditions. AMSC is currently negotiating with potential partners to build and commercialise the SeaTitan 10MW wind turbines.
The ST10 offshore wind turbine designed and developed by the Norwegian technology company Sway, is the world’s second biggest wind turbine. It has a power output of 10MW, is equipped with a rotor of 164m diameter, has a 2rpm nominal speed and blades 67m in length. The turbine was developed between 2005 and 2012 with an investment of €20m ($27.4m), and is suitable for both fixed and floating foundations.
The turbine features a direct drive permanent magnet ring-style generator with ironless stator core. The blades are mounted on an “A-frame” blade support structure to which the outer rim of the generator rotor is connected. Sway Turbine is looking for potential partners to commercialise the ST10 turbine technology.
French energy company Areva’s 8MW wind turbine, launched in November 2013, is the world’s third biggest wind turbine by rated capacity. The three blade offshore turbine, featuring 180m diameter rotor and a medium-speed hybrid gearbox, produces up to 8MW of power in an average wind speed of 12m/s.
Areva has been developing the 8MW turbines for the UK’s offshore market as well as the second round tender for the 1GW offshore wind farm developments in France. The turbine’s prototype is scheduled to be installed in 2015, while commercial production is expected to begin in 2018.
The turbine is designed for offshore operation and offers a swept area of more than 21,000m². Each of the three blades of the turbine is 80m long and weighs 35t. The nominal rotor speed of the turbine is 10.5rpm.
Danish wind turbines manufacturer Vestas completed the prototype nacelle for the turbine at Lindø Industrial Park, Denmark, in December 2013. The prototype nacelle will be installed at the Danish national test centre at Østerild in the first quarter of 2014.
The Enercon E-126/7.5 MW wind turbine, launched by the German company Enercon in 2007, is the world’s fifth biggest wind turbine. The 7.5MW gear-less turbine has a hub height of 135m, a 127m diameter rotor, and provides a swept area of 12,668m².
The turbines are operational at Magdeburg-Rothensee and Ellern onshore wind farms in Germany, and the Estinnes onshore wind farm in Wallonia, Belgium. Noordoostpolder onshore wind farm in the Netherlands will also use Enercon E-126/7.5 MW wind turbines.
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