China’s dual-headed monster wind turbine turns on to power 30,000 homes yearly

Ocean X, the world’s first dual-headed turbine, with a power rating of over 16 MW, is now operational at the Yangjiang Qingzhou IV offshore wind farm, 43 miles (70 km) offshore Guangdong in southeast China.

The turbine will single-handedly power more than 30,000 homes annually, its manufacturer, MingYang Smart Energy, said in a social media post.

The demand for clean energy is pushing innovation in the renewable energy sector. While efforts are underway to breach the 30 percent power conversion efficiency achieved with commercial-grade photovoltaic cells, the wind energy sector is looking at building bigger and better turbines that can harness more energy from the sea winds.

Interesting Engineering has reported how Chinese equipment manufacturers build larger wind turbines that can withstand the strong winds of typhoons and hurricanes. However, the innovations are not limited to just the strength of the equipment but also to design units that can deliver higher power ratings.

MingYang’s Ocean X exemplifies this innovative streak.

World’s first dual-headed wind turbine

MingYang Smart Energy is also known for developing the mySE18.X, the world’s first typhoon-proof wind turbine capable of delivering up to 20 MW of power. The Zhongshan, China-based company first unveiled its plans to build a dual-headed turbine in 2020 when it built a 1:10 scale prototype.

Over the years, the company developed a full-scale prototype and installed it in July this year at the Yangjiang Qingzhou IV offshore wind farm. The design uses a V-shaped tower to host two of its 8.3 MW turbines, giving it a combined capacity of 16.6 MW.

The setup stands 718 feet (219 m) tall and spans 1,210 feet (369 m). It displaces 15,000 tons of water as it operates at water depths of 147 feet (45 m).  The floating platform is the first to use ultra-high performance concrete with 115MPa strength, the company added in its social media post.

Design innovations

Using a twin-turbine system brought unprecedented challenges, which MingYang addressed with some design innovations. The company used counter-rotating blades and conducted a thorough analysis to optimize its operations.

The two turbines in OceanX are synchronized to operate at the same frequency and state to operate like ‘mirrors’ and harmoniously. Doing so boosts wind speeds in the area further helping energy conversion by the turbines. As per MingYang’s post, the design improved power generation by 4.29 percent when compared to a single turbine that would sweep a similar area.

OceanX also uses a single-point mooring system, which requires the cabling system to have a higher range of motion. MingYang overcame this with a cable design that eliminates joints and improves the system’s efficiency, corrosion resistance, and safety.

Another important feature of the OceanX platform is its autonomous nature. The turbine can “self-start” using its own power and control systems, allowing it to work in isolation and off-grid scenarios.

The platform has an estimated production capacity of 54,000 MWh a year, which can single-handedly power 30,000 households.