China General Nuclear's 2-gigawatt Fanshi offshore wind project in Yangjiang, Guangdong, entered full-capacity operation on September 24, the first project in China to use 18 MW turbines at scale.

The project comprises two gigawatt-scale sub-projects, including 33 of the 18 MW turbines, the largest unit capacity yet installed in volume in China.

Blades sweeping nine football pitches

Each turbine's rotor is 292 metres across, sweeping about 66,000 square metres, roughly nine standard football pitches. A single unit can generate 56 million kWh a year, producing 43 kWh with every rotation.

In total 131 offshore turbines were installed, delivering about 6.6 billion kWh of clean power annually, which the operator says is equivalent to saving about 1.92 million tonnes of standard coal and cutting CO2 by about 5.1 million tonnes.

Getting far-offshore power to shore

The project also includes China's first 500 kV intermediate reactive-power compensation station for an offshore wind farm, designed to transmit large volumes of wind power stably over long distances.

With the project online, Yangjiang's offshore wind capacity has passed 8 GW, the largest of any prefecture-level city in China. Larger turbines reduce unit counts and maintenance costs, pushing down the cost of offshore wind power.