China begins construction of the world’s largest and most powerful wind turbine generator

Chinese company MingYang Smart Energy announced the creation of the largest offshore wind turbine generator in the world. The MySE 16.0-242 model is the successor of another colossal wind turbine of the same manufacturer, MySE 11.0-203. It is 19% larger in diameter, but 45% more powerful than its predecessor, and is the most powerful in the world today.

In the USA it was calculated that offshore wind generation in the present conditions is the most expensive of all alternatives. The price of one megawatt-hour is estimated at $120.52, while for coal the figure is only $72.78, and for solar panels it is $32.78. The high cost hampers the development of the industry, but the way out was found long ago – it is necessary to build larger turbines. The larger the span of the blades, the more efficient they are.

Sticking with this principle, the engineers at MingYang Smart Energy designed a colossus with a height of 242m and blades that are 118m long. The area of the circumference they create as they rotate is 46,000 square meters – the equivalent of six soccer fields. The capacity of the giant turbine will be 16 MW, it will be able to produce up to 80 GW⋅h of energy per year.

The company clarified that the prototype will be built by the end of 2022 and since 2024, the model will go into mass production and will be sold on the market. A huge wind turbine can be mounted both on the seabed and on a floating platform, almost anywhere in the world’s oceans. Analysts note that if the construction of all large wind turbines becomes a trend, by 2050 the price of energy production by them will decrease by 37-49%, and this area will become very competitive.