MingYang Smart Energy has presented a wind turbine with a capacity of 16 megawatts. It should save more than 1.6 million tons of CO2 emissions over its service life.
Big, bigger, biggest – the wind turbine race continues. So far, the Haliade-X from GE was the largest wind turbine in the world, but now the Chinese company MingYang Smart Energy has at least announced an even more powerful wind turbine. The MySE 16.0-242 is intended for offshore use, the first prototype will be built next year. The MySE 16.0-242 is just one member of a family of turbines of various sizes.
These windmills can be built on the seabed or on a floating platform. The three blades are each 118 meters long, which leads to a height of 242 meters. The capacity is 16 megawatts. The turbine will supply 20,000 households with electricity for 25 years. Each unit should generate 80 gigawatt hours of electricity per year.
A look at the MingYang Smart Energy portfolio also shows why turbines are becoming more and more powerful. The rotation diameter of the gigantic MySE 16.0-242 is only 19 percent larger than that of the next smaller MySE 11.0-203, but the annual power generation increases by 45 percent. Apparently, the Chinese company also succeeded in increasing efficiency. Strictly speaking, the MySE 16.0-242 is the most powerful, but not the tallest wind turbine in the world. The GE Haliade-X is almost 20 meters higher at 260 meters, but its capacity is “only” 13 megawatts compared to the 16 of the MySE 16.0-242.
Built to be typhoon-proof
MingYang Smart Energy advertises that their products are prepared for bad weather and heavy seas. It is said that they are typhoon-proof. The company states that it has achieved a weight that is very low for the capacity of the nacelle. At less than 37 tons per MW, it is unrivaled in weight. Compared to a heavier nacelle, the low head mass enables more efficient use of the tower and foundation construction. In contrast to earlier models, the entire power electronics and the medium-voltage transformer have been relocated up the tower in the nacelle, which simplifies the cabling and increases the ease of maintenance of the system.
In addition, an airtight design should protect the nacelle from aggressive salt spray corrosion and at the same time allow internal natural air cooling. Over the course of its 25-year life, the turbine is expected to save more than 1.6 million tons of CO2 emissions.
High cost of offshore facilities
Offshore plants face a major cost problem. On the sea there is a lot of space, especially for floating turbines, there you don’t have to take any residents into consideration. But the costs explode for systems at sea. The US Energy Information Administration has calculated energy production costs for 2026 – with no direct subsidies. And without the cost of intermediate storage. According to this, land-based wind energy costs 31 US dollars per megawatt hour. On the water, it turns out to be an impressive US $ 120.52. That is almost twice as expensive as electricity from the coal-fired power plant. Solar energy costs just $ 32.78, which is only about a quarter.
The giant turbines should help reduce the costs of offshore wind power by 37 to 49 percent by 2050. But there is one thing they will hardly be able to get rid of: the mammoth turbines will be able to work far cheaper on land. An advantage for countries that can set up wind farms in sparsely populated regions.
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