The world’s largest wind turbine is now installed in China [update]

A 16-megawatt (MW) wind turbine – the world’s largest – is now in place off the southeastern coast of China.

June 29: These folks really didn’t mess around. Developer China Three Gorges (CTG) and wind turbine maker Goldwind have announced that the world’s largest turbine is now up off China’s Fujian Province. It was just three days ago that the installation platform was moving into position to erect the giant turbine.

It will now undergo commissioning and testing before it’s connected to the grid.

Goldwind and China Three Gorges released some photos of the installation process and final result. You can learn more about the 16 MW turbine below.

June 26: The 16 MW wind turbine is part of the second phase of China Three Gorges Corporation’s (CTG) Zhangpu Liuao wind farm. CTG issued an announcement this morning that said its wind power installation platform, “Baihetan,” was moving into position to install the turbine.

The CNY 6 billion ($885 million) project is sited southeast of the Liuao Peninsula in China’s Fujian Province.

This is the first wind farm to deploy the 16 MW wind turbine that CTG developed with Goldwind Technology. It has a rotor diameter of 252 meters (827 feet). It also has a swept area of around 50,000 square meters (538,195 square feet) – that’s the equivalent of seven standard football pitches. The turbine’s hub is 146 meters (479 feet) high – that’s as tall as a 50-story building.

One 16 MW turbine is capable of generating 34.2 kWh of electricity per revolution, and it can produce more than 66 GWh of clean electricity per year, according to CTG.

The 400 MW Zhangpu Liuao Phase 2 offshore wind farm will be able to produce about 1.6 TWh of electricity per year. According to CTG, this can save about 500,000 tons of standard coal and reduce emissions by about 1.36 million tons annually.

Read more: Wind turbines are headed to Antarctica – here’s how that works

Photo: Sun Xiaocong

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