World’s Most Powerful Onshore Wind Turbine Turns On

Wedoany.com Report-Nov 22,Machine can power 160,000 households with blades that are each comfortably longer than a football pitch

The world’s most powerful onshore wind turbine, which at 15MW is rated twice the figure of other market-leading models, has been powered up in China by manufacturer Sany.

Wind turbine maker Sany announced on Sunday that it had achieved the milestone with the prototype machine it installed last month.

Sany says the turbine has set two new global records for the largest single-unit capacity and the largest rotor diameter (270 metres) for onshore turbines.

The SI-270150 model has an extended design life of 25 to 30 years and blade lengths of 131 metres, with a maximum swept area of over 57,000 square metres. A single turbine could, said Sany, generate enough electricity to power 160,000 households.

With the turbine powered up and connected to the grid, it will now undergo over a year of testing, said Sany. This will include nearly 2,000 performance tests to verify the reliability of its components and overall design under real-world conditions, said Sany.

The turbine is more than twice as powerful as those produced by Western wind turbine makers. Denmark’s Vestas unveiled its 7.2MW EnVentus V172 machine in 2022, while fellow market leader Siemens Gamesa offers a 7MW onshore machine.

Indeed, at 15MW, the turbine is rated the same as the largest offshore wind turbines produced in the West.

Sany revealed plans for the machine to Recharge over a year ago. It began production of the 131-metre blades earlier this year, claiming that advances in airfoil design enable a more robust structure for the massive component.

The supersizing of turbines has been a contentious issue in the wind sector in recent years, with complaints that the rapid drive to produce ever larger models is fuelling reliability issues and causing supply chain challenges, including for the transport of the machines.

Despite this, China’s wind giants have steamed ahead with producing more powerful turbines than ever. Last month, three manufacturers unveiled plans to produce offshore machines boasting an astonishing 25MW of power.