Wind turbine taller than the Eiffel Tower
The Chinese wind power company Mingyang has announced the construction of a giant wind turbine. At 330 meters, the turbine will not only be taller than the Eiffel Tower, but the planned output of 22 megawatts is almost twice as much of today's conventional wind turbines.
The mega wind turbine – with the type designation MySE 22 MW – has a rotor diameter of 310 meters and, according to the manufacturer, is adapted to strong wind regions. It should even be able to withstand typhoons. It should also be possible to install the turbine on the foundation structures on the seabed that have been common in offshore wind farms to date, as well as on floating offshore wind farms. According to Mingyang, the first 22-megawatt wind turbine is to be built as early as 2024 or 2025.
Other manufacturers such as General Electric, Goldwind, Siemens and Vestas are also trying to win the race for the most powerful offshore wind turbine. However, things are currently looking good for Mingyang.
The largest turbine to date, with an output of 16 megawatts, is located in the Fujian offshore wind farm off the coast of the south-eastern Chinese province of the same name. It was installed at the end of June by the Chinese manufacturer Goldwind.
This year, the German-Spanish company Siemens-Gamesa set up a 15-megawatt turbine in Denmark for a test run, which is also planned for offshore applications.
The first German wind turbines have been in the "Alpha Ventus" offshore test field since 2010. Their total height is 170 meters above the seabed, with a rated output of five megawatts. Most recently, nine-megawatt turbines were installed in the North Sea at the Kaskasi wind farm.
After record expansion, wind power entered a global crisis in 2022. The commissioning of turbines fell by 15 percent to 86,000 megawatts. Growth came to a standstill in the world's two largest wind power markets – China and the USA – of all places.
According to a report by the US market research company Bloomberg New Energy Finance (Bnef), the main reasons for this were bottlenecks in the supply chain and uncertainty about government support measures for wind energy expansion.
Source: Klimareporter, Joachim Wille, 07.11.2023
Image: Dmitry Rukhlenko at Shutterstock
