The 150MW inter-tidal demonstration offshore wind farm in Rudong, in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu successfully completed its test phase trial at the end of October.
Developed by Longyuan Group, Rudong is thus far the largest offshore wind farm in Asia. Its turbines are located in a shallow, inter-tidal area 3-8km from shore. A total of 2.5bn yuan ($US397.2m) was required to build the project, which is expected to generate 375m kwh of electricity annually.
Three turbine manufacturers supplied machines for the project. It is made up of:
- 17 3MW Sinovel turbines
- 21 2.3MW Siemens turbines
- 20 2.5MW Goldwind turbines.
Construction began on 21 June 2011, with a first phase boasting 99.3MW in capacity coming online on 28 Dec 2011. Grid connection for all 58 turbines was achieved on 22 Sept 2012.
Two types of foundations have been used: monopiles and jackets. The 5.2m diameter monopile foundation is the largest wind turbine foundation to deployed in Asia thus far.
An earlier 30MW experimental inter-tidal wind farm entered into full operation in Rudong in Sept 2010. This was also developed by Longyuan.
China's offshore wind installed capacity also includes the 102MW Shanghai East Sea Bridge project.
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