China Commissions Wind Farm At Its Deepest Offshore Position
Chinese officials highlighted the commissioning of its newest offshore wind farm, which is also setting a record for the country’s deepest fixed-bottom wind turbines and is located far out to sea. They highlighted the complex geology and challenges of extreme sea conditions in developing and operating the 504 MW wind farm, the Huaneng Shandong Peninsula North L Site.
The wind farm was developed by the state-owned China Huaneng Group and will be managed and operated by the Yantai Power Plant. The wind farm is located in northern China approximately 70 kilometers (43 miles) off the northeast coast of the Shandong Peninsula in the Yellow Sea. The position meant that the developers had to overcome the challenges of a 95.6-kilometer (59-mile) submarine cable to bring the power to the grid.
The location required the wind turbine foundations to be at depths ranging between 52 and 56 meters (170 and 185 feet). It is the deepest position developed by China and rivals the deepest wind farm in the world. The deepest title is held by Scotland’s Seagreen, which is at a position of 58.7 meters (192.5 feet). Developed through a joint venture between SSE Renewables, TotalEnergies, and PTTEP, the 1 GW Scottish wind farm was commissioned in 2023.
China Huaneng Group highlights the use of a four-pile jacket foundation structure with a maximum height of 83.9 meters (275 feet) to ensure the safety and stability of the turbines in the deep-sea and complex geological environment.
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The project developed high-precision positioning technology using a navigation satellite system for the positioning of the foundations. They also report that they were able to reduce the pile driving time for a single wind turbine from 48 hours to 29 hours.
The completed wind farm has a total of 42 12 MW turbines. It was officially connected to the power grid and began delivering full power on April 7. The company expects the wind farm to save about 500,000 metric tons of standard coal per year.