Our country's offshore wind power industry advantages continue to grow.

The sea wind rises, and green electricity flows in. On April 5, in the waters to the west of Dongfang City in Hainan, as wind turbines with a hub height of 139.4 meters and a single blade length of 118 meters rotated slowly, the first batch of units at the State Power Investment Group Longyuan Power Hainan Qiyuan Offshore Wind Farm began generating power after grid connection.

The project plans to install 22 wind power units of 10 megawatts and 20 units of 14 megawatts. After all units are put into operation, the farm will transmit more than 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours of clean electricity annually, equivalent to reducing 467k tons of standard coal consumption and cutting 467k tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year.

“14-megawatt units are the first batch-scale application in Hainan. We innovatively applied technologies such as trenchless directional drilling, and coordinated drone-based survey work to effectively protect the marine ecosystem.” Li Hao, deputy general manager of the Hainan branch of State Power Investment Group Longyuan Power, said.

China’s offshore wind power industry is building new competitive advantages on a global scale. The successful lifting and installation of a 20-megawatt offshore wind turbine has refreshed the global record for the largest single-unit capacity among turbines that have been installed in real marine environments. The rotor diameter of 252 meters, and the completion of integrated assembly of the world’s first 16-megawatt floating offshore wind turbine… China’s large-capacity offshore wind turbines are leading the world. Domestic substitution technologies continue to achieve new breakthroughs, and floating offshore wind has entered the pilot demonstration stage.

In terms of scale, data released by the National Energy Administration shows that as of the end of February this year, China’s total installed wind power capacity reached 650 million kilowatts, up 22.8% year over year. China’s offshore wind power has cumulatively surpassed 47 million kilowatts of grid-connected installed capacity, ranking first globally for 5 consecutive years.

In terms of technology, at a distance of more than 80 kilometers offshore, the China Huadian Yangjiang Sanshandao Six Offshore Wind Farm project is progressing steadily. “This is the domestic first project with large-scale application of 16.2-megawatt offshore wind turbines. By using technologies such as intelligent sensing and intelligent decision-making, the turbines enable a 5% to 10% improvement in the wind farm’s revenue,” said Li Xiang, Party Secretary and Chairman of Huadian Yangjiang Company.

In terms of clusters, coastal regions are accelerating the layout of industrial chains, forming multiple key offshore wind power industrial bases that cover the entire chain of turbine manufacturing, supporting equipment, construction and installation, and operation and maintenance services. In Yancheng, Jiangsu, the capacity for offshore wind turbine complete sets accounts for about 40% of the national total, while the blade capacity accounts for about 20%. In Shantou, Guangdong, the locality is planning and exploring diversified utilization modes such as “offshore wind power + hydrogen production, ammonia production, and alcohol production,” seizing the commanding heights in the new energy industry and moving toward the goal of a world-class offshore wind power high-end equipment industrial cluster.

Building well is still not enough—power must also be sent out and used well; the grid-connection capability of offshore wind power continues to improve. On March 31, the flexible HVDC (VSC) power transmission project for the Sanshandao offshore wind farm in Yangjiang reached a key milestone. The offshore converter station jacket conductor structure, weighing more than 10,000 tons, successfully completed the transfer operation from land to the transport vessel. After the project is completed, it can deliver about 6 billion kilowatt-hours of clean electricity annually to the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area.

With breakthroughs in localization technologies and improvements in economic performance, China’s cumulative installed offshore wind capacity has already accounted for more than half of the world’s total offshore wind capacity. In the “15th Five-Year Plan” period for 2026–2030, China will build offshore wind power bases in the Bohai, Yellow, East China, and South China Sea areas, and will proceed with deep-sea offshore wind power development in a standardized and orderly manner. It is expected that the scale of China’s cumulative grid-connected offshore wind power installed capacity will reach more than 100 million kilowatts.

A relevant official from the New Energy and Renewable Energy Department of the National Energy Administration said that next, China will strengthen policy support for areas such as deep-sea offshore wind power, optimize and improve the industry’s development, construction, and management, and promote standardized and orderly construction of offshore wind power. A key focus will be to push forward the start of construction of a number of deep-sea offshore wind power projects. (By our reporter Ding Yiting)