The construction of a 17-megawatt direct-drive floating wind turbine project began on June 4 in Yangjiang City, South China’s Guangdong Province. The wind turbine, produced by China Huaneng Group Co., Ltd. (China Huaneng), has the largest single-unit capacity of its kind in the world.
The wind turbine, named Ruifeng, is a critical project under China’s national key R&D program related to renewable energy technology. Its R&D results from the joint collaboration between China Huaneng Group Co., Ltd. Southern Branch and Huaneng Clean Energy Research Institute, both subsidiaries of China Huaneng. Other enterprises and universities, such as Dongfang Electric Co., Ltd., and North China Electric Power University, also play crucial roles.
The wind turbine is expected to be installed at an offshore wind farm on the Sanshan Island, where extreme circumstances can test its performance, so as to provide experience for China’s large-scale, commercial operations of wind turbines in the distant and deep sea.
The Ruifeng wind turbine is expected to operate in strong typhoons and complex marine circumstances, and all of its key devices will be domestically produced. It is expected to even withstand a level-17 super typhoon or 24-meter waves.
As for the construction cost per kilowatt capacity, it will be more than 25 percent lower than that of other wind turbines of its type, thanks to its integrated design. By adopting a smart control system, it can effectively mitigate fluctuations on the sea, thereby increasing power generation by more than 3 percent.
An artificial water area has been used to test the dynamic coupling effect of its ultra-large blades, floating platform and mooring system in real marine circumstances. The auxiliary experiment standard has also been formulated, filling the country’s technical gap in this field.
(Executive editor: Zuo Shihan)
