Sany enters offshore wind with 9MW low-wind turbine
Sany enters offshore wind with 9MW low-wind turbine | Windpower Monthly
Sany explained that its first offshore wind turbine is designed for low- and medium- annual average wind speeds of around 7.5m/s.
It is planned for use “in waters north of the Yangtze River” in northern China and will be most effective in water depths of 20 metres, the company added.
The new model's nacelle uses a doubly-fed generator. It also features anti-corrosion and dehumidification systems to improve durability and lifespan in the harsher conditions found at sea.
The turbine was revealed from behind sliding doors with an explosion of glitter at the Sany facility on 31 March.
Rival manufacturing majors such as Vestas, Goldwind, and MingYang are racing to develop ever more powerful offshore wind turbines – but Sany claims the largest turbines are “frequently offline”.
The company added that it instead prioritises “reliability” and optimising commissioning, operation, and maintenance over size.
Sany currently has installed 9.7GW of wind turbines, mostly in mainland China, according to Windpower Intelligence, the research and data division of Windpower Monthly.
The company ranked among the top ten turbine makers by capacity ordered and by capacity installed last year. All of its turbine orders and turbine installations were onshore.
Last year, it unveiled an 8MW-plus onshore wind platform in Windpower Monthly.
China's 29.9GW offshore wind fleet is the largest in the world.
Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.