China debuts world's largest floating wind turbine: 20-MW giant set to power 37,000 homes
China has been making significant breakthroughs in renewable energy, recently rolling out the world's largest floating wind turbine. This 20-megawatt giant is a product of China’s own development efforts, showing just how serious the country is about going green. It’s got a rotor diameter of 260 meters, with a wind-catching area that spreads across 53,100 square meters—about the size of seven football fields—making sure it captures as much wind power as possible.
The turbine made headlines on October 17 through the Weibo page of "Guozi Xiaoxin." It’s expected to pump out 62 million kWh a year, which is enough juice to power roughly 37,000 homes. Moreover, it’ll save around 25,000 tons of coal and keep 62,000 tons of carbon dioxide from hitting the atmosphere every year, which is a big deal for the planet.
This large wind turbine is built on a semi-submersible floating platform with a smart mooring system, allowing it to operate out in deeper waters where traditional turbines can’t reach. It’s a game-changer for offshore wind energy, giving China a leg up in the global wind energy race and breaking new ground in how far offshore wind power can go.
They first showed off this beast at the Hamburg International Wind Energy Exhibition on September 24, where it turned quite a few heads. The "Qihang," as they call it, isn’t just about raw power—it’s designed to be easy to install and adaptable to tricky ocean conditions, meaning it can cover wide areas efficiently and help drive sustainable energy growth in China’s wind sector.
They're getting ready to run tests on the turbine in Dongying, Shandong. Once everything checks out, the plan is to move it out to sea and hook it up to the grid. CRRC, the company behind "Qihang," said the tests will prove both the tech and the economics work, laying the foundation for wider use.
CRRC is already a big player in the wind game, with over 13,000 turbines installed across 260 wind farms, both on land and offshore.
Source(s)
MyDrivers (in Chinese)
