【By Guan察者网, Ruan Jiaqi】

Amidst the traditional wind turbine clusters in the South China Sea, a "giant" twin-head wind turbine has emerged as a standout, becoming an immediate visual focus on the shores of Lingding Bay.

This is the "Mingyang Tiance" (OceanX) dual-rotor offshore wind turbine. With breakthrough engineering technology, it features two offshore wind turbines with a total capacity of 16.6 megawatts, making it currently the world's largest single-unit floating offshore wind power platform.

Its wind energy capture is also unparalleled among similar units worldwide. The swept area exceeds 52,000 square meters, equivalent to seven standard football fields.

Last July, the "Mingyang Tiance" was installed and then moved to the Guangdong Yangjiang Mingyang Qingzhou IV offshore wind farm project to carry out subsequent work such as offshore fixation and commissioning. According to calculations, after being officially put into operation, this turbine can generate about 54 million kilowatt-hours annually, enough to meet the daily electricity needs of 30,000 three-member families.

Amidst the amazement, the U.S. media, Bloomberg, stated on the 29th that "this turbine is also a vivid symbol of the ambition of Chinese green technology companies: while industry giants in Europe, the United States, and Japan are struggling with political and economic problems, China is continuously consolidating its dominant position in another clean energy field."

On July 3, 2024, the "Mingyang Tiance" was officially installed at the China Shipbuilding Huangpu Wenchong Shipyard. Mingyang Intelligent official website

The report mentioned that in response to market adjustments after the cancellation of domestic new energy grid-connected electricity price subsidies, as well as challenges such as the scarcity of nearshore high-quality resources, Chinese wind turbine manufacturers have turned to scale development over the past five years. By developing larger projects and giant turbines, they provide clean energy for coastal cities in China and also drive down wind power prices significantly.

According to data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, "the average cost of China's offshore wind power is now less than half of that of the second-largest offshore wind market in the world, the UK."

However, replicating China's advantages in this field is much more difficult than in other renewable energy sectors where China already dominates, such as solar panels, batteries, and electric vehicles.

The U.S. media analysis pointed out that the core obstacle lies in the "gigantic" characteristics of these turbines. "The height of Chinese offshore wind turbines may even exceed the Eiffel Tower in France. Their assembly work is closer to a large-scale infrastructure project rather than traditional manufacturing scale. Moreover, much of the work needs to be completed in areas close to the final installation location," said the analysis.

In the Eastern Mingyang New Energy High-end Equipment Industrial Base, staff members transported the first set of the world's largest wind turbine blades from the workshop. Hainan Daily

This scale and efficiency are unimaginable in Western countries' projects.

Trivium China's energy analyst Cosimo Ries also pointed out that Chinese wind turbine manufacturers will occupy most of the market share because they have a fundamental and significant advantage in costs, while many Western companies are currently facing multiple difficulties. This makes it hard for them to expand production capacity and invest as Chinese companies do.

Yujia Han, a researcher based in Washington for the Global Energy Monitor, further stated, "China's offshore wind power project reserves have always maintained a strong momentum, which is attributed to its comprehensive advantages in financing, supply chain integration, policy support, and technological improvements."

"China has a vast and diverse market 'test field,' providing domestic companies with a platform to accumulate technology and promote innovation, which are key elements in building global competitiveness," she added.

In stark contrast, offshore wind power in Europe and the United States is currently experiencing a downturn. Even in Europe, the birthplace of the offshore wind industry after the oil crisis in the 1970s, offshore wind projects are gradually losing favor due to insufficient government support and rising costs.

Just in early August, a zero-subsidy offshore wind auction in Germany ended in an embarrassing "zero bid." The German Offshore Wind Energy Group (BWO) stated that the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) received no bids for two areas in the North Sea. The German Energy and Water Industry Association (BDEW) bluntly stated, "This is the first failure in the history of German offshore wind auctions."

Meanwhile, the United States, which is taking a step backward, has taken even more extreme measures. Upon taking office, Trump declared war on wind energy, absurdly claiming that turbines "kill birds," directly halting new approvals for offshore wind projects and forcing a project that was nearly completed to stop, causing the Danish developer Orsted A/S's stock to plummet sharply.

In the distant part of the Earth, Bloomberg pointed out that in the fishing port city of Yangjiang, located 250 kilometers west of Hong Kong, a factory of Mingyang Intelligent intuitively demonstrates the "gigantic" production scale that the West finds difficult to match.

Early in August, dozens of workers passed by an arched platform that would be assembled into a wind turbine blade, "which looks like a giant surfboard over 100 meters long."

"We were one of the first large enterprises to layout here," Ma Limin, the general manager of the Yangjiang base of Mingyang, told Bloomberg. "Since then, more than 30 downstream suppliers in the wind power industry have successively moved in."

Ma Limin revealed that the current factory's output supplies the overseas markets such as Italy, and by the end of this year, this proportion is expected to double.

According to the report, the turbines produced at the Yangjiang base mainly supply large wind farms along the Guangdong coast. As one of the provinces with the most vibrant economy and the highest electricity consumption in China, Guangdong plans to cumulatively commission about 18 gigawatts of offshore wind power by the end of 2025, "a scale that exceeds the total offshore wind capacity built by any country except China so far."

However, these giant wind turbines made in China have not yet been widely used abroad. According to the report, currently, only the Taranto offshore wind farm in southern Italy uses Chinese wind turbines.

Recently, the EU, under the pretext of "de-risking from China," secretly pressured German companies to break contracts and abandon orders for turbines from Mingyang Intelligent. The EU-China Chamber of Commerce has issued a statement opposing this firmly.

Mingyang Intelligent confirmed to the U.S. media that the company has withdrawn from the aforementioned German project, but stated that it remains committed to the European market and is exploring cooperation opportunities including local production.

Zhang Qiying, the president and chief technical officer of Mingyang Intelligent, told reporters at the company's headquarters in Zhongshan, "The situation today is completely different from before." He continued, "We have had discussions with many Western developers because we have more innovative products and technologies."

In Zhang Qiying's view, the key to breaking through the barriers in the foreign market lies in convincing European governments and engineering companies that "for the next 25 to 30 years, Chinese companies will continue to provide high-quality maintenance services, and will also deeply integrate into the local market through methods such as establishing local teams."

At the same time, he emphasized that the European market also needs to change its fixed perception of Chinese manufacturers and accept more innovative new products with an open attitude.

"I am confident that this day will come — it will bring cleaner and cheaper offshore wind power," Zhang Qiying said. "But the premise of all this is to break down the existing barriers."

This article is an exclusive article from Guan察者网. Without permission, it cannot be reprinted.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7543914748715270665/

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