Chinese state-owned CRRC has installed what the company claims to be the world’s largest floating offshore wind turbine in the Shandong Province.

On 11 January, the company installed the 20 MW Qihang floating offshore wind turbine prototype at the Dongying wind power testing and certification innovation base in Shandong.

CRRC said this marks an important step for the state-owned firm in its exploration of ultra-large offshore wind turbines.

The Qihang floating wind turbine prototype has a diameter of 260 metres, equivalent to seven standard football fields, and a hub height of 151 metres.

Each rotation of the unit can meet the electricity demand of a household for two to four days, saving about 25,000 tonnes of coal consumption and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 62,000 tonnes per year, according to CRRC.

The Qihang rolled off the production line in Sheyang, Jiangsu Province, in October 2024, and arrived at Dongying Guangli Port in mid-December. After that, the prototype was transferred to the Dongying site using a self-propelled modular transport unit.

After completing the relevant tests and certifications, the company said the floating wind turbine prototype will be installed offshore for grid-connected power generation.

Last year, China’s Mingyang Smart Energy installed the world’s first 16 MW floating wind platform. The company’s OceanX floater, which features two MySE8.3-180 hybrid drive wind turbines and has a total capacity of 16.6 MW, was installed at the Qingzhou IV offshore wind farm in Yangjiang in August 2024 and entered operation in December 2024.

by offshorewind