World’s First 16 MW Floating Wind Turbine Is Now Powering an Oilfield in the South China Sea

Premium

MILITARY ENERGY VIDEOS NEWSLETTERS IE ACADEMY WEBINARS PHOTO STORY PODCASTS ENGINEERS DIRECTORY About Us Subscription Contact Us Advertise Log in Sign up

Energy Get your news fromINTERESTING ENGINEERING

Chinese oil giant CNOOC has switched on Haiyou Anlan, the world’s first 16 MW wind turbine on a tension-leg floating platform, 136 km off Guangdong in 136 metres of water.

This wind turbine is almost as tall as a 110-storey building. And it’s floating.

It’s called Haiyou Anlan, and it sits 136 kilometres off China’s coast, in water 136 metres deep.

Chinese oil giant CNOOC has switched it on. It’s the world’s first 16-megawatt turbine on a tension-leg platform.

Its hull is built to float higher than it sits.

Nine steel cables anchored to the seabed pull it down and hold it taut.

So it barely bobs, and it’s built to ride out typhoon winds above 200 kilometres an hour.

Its engineers say the design needs 40 percent less steel than a semi-submersible float.

On top is a Mingyang turbine whose blades sweep an area of about seven and a half football fields.

At full power, it makes 4.4 kilowatt-hours every second. One turn of the blades makes about 36, more than an average American home uses in a day.

And here’s the twist. All that power goes straight into an oilfield, alongside its fuel generators and batteries.

CNOOC expects 54 million kilowatt-hours a year, saving around 15,000 cubic metres of fuel oil.

Most of the world’s usable offshore wind blows over water too deep for fixed turbines. Giants like this are how you reach it.

a month ago

Energy

World’s First 16 MW Floating Wind Turbine Is Now Powering an Oilfield in the South China Sea

RECOMMENDED VIDEOS

How these Vortex Bladeless makes electricity by shaking

Japan just backed a fusion machine most of the world gave up on

China starts a nuclear reactor that will be cooled by a 666-foot tower

This Reactor runs on 245,000 Graphite balls and refuses to melt down

China’s ‘artificial sun’ advances as BEST nuclear fusion reactor passes halfway mark

Rolls-Royce Picks Who Builds the ‘Off Switch’ for Its Mini Nuclear Reactors

Why engineers are turning abandoned mines into giant batteries

Why Blykalla picked lead for SEALER SMR

Yara’s carbon capture plant to capture, liquefy up to 800k tons of CO₂ annually

How CorPower harvests energy from ocean waves

Japan just backed a fusion machine most of the world gave up on

China starts a nuclear reactor that will be cooled by a 666-foot tower

This Reactor runs on 245,000 Graphite balls and refuses to melt down

China’s ‘artificial sun’ advances as BEST nuclear fusion reactor passes halfway mark

Rolls-Royce Picks Who Builds the ‘Off Switch’ for Its Mini Nuclear Reactors

Why engineers are turning abandoned mines into giant batteries

Why Blykalla picked lead for SEALER SMR

Yara’s carbon capture plant to capture, liquefy up to 800k tons of CO₂ annually

How CorPower harvests energy from ocean waves

Related stories

Frances Haugen hopes The Social Reckoning will inspire more whistleblowers

Apple and LG leak shows new ‘tap to control’ HomeKit features

The DOJ Is Weighing Perjury Charges Against Cassidy Hutchinson

Japan’s new 3,300-ton submarine enters water with advanced stealth technology

New catalyst converts wood into jet fuel with 83% carbon monoxide conversion

‘World-first’ 1 keV fusion milestone set without lasers or superconducting magnets

Related stories

Frances Haugen hopes The Social Reckoning will inspire more whistleblowers

Apple and LG leak shows new ‘tap to control’ HomeKit features

The DOJ Is Weighing Perjury Charges Against Cassidy Hutchinson

Japan’s new 3,300-ton submarine enters water with advanced stealth technology

New catalyst converts wood into jet fuel with 83% carbon monoxide conversion

‘World-first’ 1 keV fusion milestone set without lasers or superconducting magnets