A Chinese state-owned manufacturing giant recently announced a wind turbine that could change the offshore wind industry. According to Interesting Engineering, CRRC unveiled plans for a 20-megawatt floating wind turbine at the WindEnergy Hamburg conference in Germany.
To put that in perspective, the largest floating wind farm in the world, the Hywind Tampen in the North Sea, has a total capacity of 88 MW provided by 11 turbines.
The newly developed turbine has a blade tip height of 1,050 feet and a rotor diameter of 853 feet, and it will cover a massive area of over 571,000 square feet when the blades are turning.
🗣️ Will America someday get all its energy from renewable sources?
🔘 Yes — very soon ☀️
🔘 Yes — by 2050 ⏰
🔘 Yes — by 2070 ⏳
🔘 Probably never ❌
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
"CRRC has pioneered transformation across the sector with multiple world-leading innovations in recent years," the company said in a statement, "including the world's largest floating WTG (wind turbine generator), the tallest onshore wind tower barrel, and the most powerful 25 MW permanent magnet semidirect wind generator, showcasing our technical expertise across the global wind power industry."
Each turbine will produce enough power annually to provide electricity to roughly 37,000 homes. This will reduce carbon pollution by 62,000 tons. This could go a long way in helping China reach its goal of being carbon neutral by 2060 by making clean energy like wind more affordable.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, "higher capacity turbines mean that fewer turbines are needed to generate the same amount of energy across a wind plant — ultimately leading to lower costs."
China has made huge strides in the clean energy sector, most of that being in solar power, including the world's largest solar farm, which went online in June. According to state-run Xinhua News Agency, more than half of China's installed energy generation capacity is made up of clean energy sources.
But just because China has the installed energy generation capacity doesn't mean it's fully being capitalized upon. According to Yale E360, China still generates about 70% of its electricity from dirty energy sources, mostly coal, leading the country to be the world's worst emitter of planet-warming pollution. In 2022, China was responsible for nearly 31% of the world's carbon pollution, which is one of the main drivers behind the overheating of the planet and leading to extreme weather that threatens the global food supply.
Besides unveiling the world's strongest floating offshore wind turbine, the Chinese company Dongfang recently manufactured an offshore turbine (nonfloating) capable of producing 26 MW, and the Sany Group produced an onshore turbine with a 15 MW capacity, both world records.
Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Cool Picks
