- A 26-megawatt offshore wind turbine rolled off the production line in at the Donfang factory in Fuzhou, southeast China’s Fujian Province this past weekend.
- The turbine boasts a blade wheel diameter of more than 310 meters, and is 185 meters tall at the center of the wheel hub while standing up.
Chinaโs Dongfang Electric Corporation (DEC) announced the rollout of the mega-turbine from the production line in Fuzhou on Saturday. This giant turbine sets a new record for the worldโs largest wind turbine by capacity and size, surpassing Dongfangโs previous world record of 18 MW by 31 percent. Just four months ago, Dongfang installed the 18 MW turbine at a coastal test base in Shantou, Guangdong province.
The new 26 MW model is suitable for medium to high wind speed areas, with speeds above eight meters per second (m/s). The turbine boasts a blade wheel diameter of more than 310 meters, with a swept area equivalent to 10.5 standard football fields. The turbineโs hub centre is 185 meters high, which is almost the height of a 63-story residential building.
At an average wind speed of 10 meters per second, the turbine can produce 100 GWh of clean electricity annually. This is sufficient to meet the annual electricity needs of 55,000 households, reducing more than 80,000 tons of CO2 emissions.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal