China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), a state-owned company, has announced plans to build the world’s largest wind turbine, surpassing the current record holder, a wind turbine with a rotor diameter of 252 meters produced by Goldwind in October 2022. The components of the H260-18MW wind turbine, with a rotor diameter of 260 meters and a tower height of 150 meters, have already been completed, according to CSSC. The wind turbine is expected to have a maximum capacity of 18 megawatts and generate 74 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, enough to power approximately 40,000 households in China.
CSSC claims that the larger wind turbines are significantly more cost-effective, with only 55 of the new 18-megawatt wind turbines required to set up an offshore wind farm with a peak capacity of one gigawatt (GW), compared to 63 of the 16-megawatt wind turbines, reducing the wind farm’s construction costs by approximately 14 million euros. The wind turbine’s ideal conditions generate 44.8 kilowatt-hours of electrical energy per rotation, enough to charge the battery of a smaller electric car.
Siemens Gamesa, a wind turbine manufacturer, set a new world record in October 2022 with a prototype of the SG 14-222 DD wind turbine, producing 359 megawatt-hours of electricity in 24 hours. The European Union and the United States are also working on larger and more powerful wind turbines.
The CSSC’s announcement of the world’s largest wind turbine is a significant development in the renewable energy sector, as it has the potential to reduce the cost of offshore wind farms and increase their efficiency. The wind turbine’s construction and installation will be closely monitored by industry experts, and its performance will be closely scrutinized to determine its impact on the renewable energy sector.
