The Chinese company develops wind turbines with a blade area of up to 66,052 m2 and can produce 80 GWh of electricity per year.
On January 6, China Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) announced the H260 18MW wind turbine prototype, surpassing MingYang’s MySE 16.0-242 to become the world’s largest wind turbine. But now, MingYang is back in the race when it revealed a new, significantly larger turbine model called MySE 18.X-28X, as tall as a 70-story building, New Atlas reported on January 15.
While the H260 18MW has a 128 m long rotor, the MySE 18.X-28X promises to surpass the 18 MW threshold with a giant 140 m long rotor and a swept area of up to 66,052 m2. MingYang said the turbine can withstand the harshest conditions in the ocean, including strong storms with wind speeds of over 202 km/h. With an average wind speed of 30.6 km/h, the company predicts the device will produce 80 GWh of electricity per year, enough to supply 96,000 residents.
Companies develop giant wind turbines because increasing the swept area of the blades increases the area of airspace from which energy can be extracted, thereby increasing overall productivity. In addition, this method also helps reduce the cost of building wind farms, which requires expensive anchoring of turbines to the seabed. This also leads to a reduction in the cost of wind power.
“Compared to installing 13 MW turbines, the high capacity of MySE18.X-28X will help reduce 18 pieces of equipment when building a 1 GW wind farm, which means reducing construction costs by about 120,000 – 150,000 USD per MW.” , MingYang said.
Thus, a 1 GW project will save 120 – 150 million USD. For reference, the 1.2 GW Hornsea One Project, built with 7 MW turbines, is estimated to cost at least $5.15 billion. The amount of 150 million USD is not a dramatic change but still accounts for a few% of this large project.
Source: VnExpress
