China has completed the offshore installation of Three Gorges Pilot, a 16 MW floating offshore wind turbine described in the source as the world’s largest single-unit floating turbine.
The unit was installed on Saturday in waters off Yangjiang, Guangdong Province. It combines a 16 MW wind turbine, a semi-submersible floating platform and a newly developed mooring arrangement.
The turbine has a maximum blade-tip height of more than 270 m. Its rotor diameter reaches 252 m, covering a swept area comparable to seven standard football fields.
Unlike fixed-bottom offshore turbines, Three Gorges Pilot is supported by a floating semi-submersible platform. The structure measures 80.82 m in length and 91 m in width, with a displacement of 24,100 tonnes.
The floating platform is held in position by nine suction anchors. The mooring system also uses domestically produced high-performance polyester fiber cables and anchor chains for seabed connection and positioning.
Pan Hongguan, an offshore wind power engineer from the Guangdong Branch of China Three Gorges Corporation, said the project applied a new mooring system, dynamic monitoring system, active ballast system and 66 kV dynamic submarine cables for the first time in China. He said the polyester cable and anchor chain configuration improves mechanical performance by adding spring-like flexibility to the system.
Before installation, Three Gorges Pilot completed integrated assembly at Tieshan Port in Beihai, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It was then towed across the Qiongzhou Strait to its target site, more than 70 km off Yangjiang.
Once operational, the turbine is expected to produce about 44.7 million kWh of clean electricity each year, enough to meet annual power demand for 24,000 households.
