China's Hardest-to-Build Offshore Wind Power Project Put into Operation

China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN)'s 240,000-kilowatt offshore wind power project in Dalian Island, Pingtan County of East China's Fujian Province was connected to the grid on Dec 29, 2021, marking operation of the hardest-to-build offshore wind power project in China.

Located northeast of Dalian Island, the project included installation of 60 sets of 4-megawatt wind turbines and construction of a new 220-kilovolt onshore booster station.

Pingtan is one of the world's three offshore areas with strong wind, huge waves and rapid currents as well as frequent typhoons, which shortened annual construction period to fewer than 100 days.

The complicated geological structure of the construction site made the project the most difficult to build of its kind in China.

Once operational, the project is expected to transmit 960 million kilowatt-hours of power on the grid annually, equivalent to elimination of burning of 308,100 metric tons of standard coal and generation of 900,000 tons of carbon dioxide.

It will contribute to Fujian's offshore wind power development and play a role in construction of the smart clean energy demonstration base in the Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Zone during China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, and will build Pingtan into the first zero-carbon city in the region and perhaps around the country.

Once operational, the project will improve CGN's domestic new energy installed capacity to more than 28 million kilowatts.

The company has built several iconic offshore wind power projects which at present have an installed capacity of nearly 2.36 million kW.

CGN's 240,000-kilowatt offshore wind power project in Dalian Island, Pingtan County of Fujian Province is fully operational. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

(Executive editor: Niu Yilin)