VIDEO | Super typhoon slams into Chinese offshore wind farms
Offshore wind turbines designed by China’s Envision and Mingyang among those to survive stern test from typhoon Ragasa
Super Typhoon Ragasa has left a path of destruction in its wake across southeast Asia this week, while also slamming into China’s offshore wind fleet, including a pioneering twin-headed floating turbine.
The typhoon, reportedly the strongest of the year with winds gusts of up 270km/h, first blew past the Philippines before hitting Taiwan and then China, killing dozens.
It traced a path along China’s southern coastline before making landfall in the province of Guangdong, presenting a stern test to the country’s offshore wind fleet.
One of the wind farms affected (see video above) was the Huizhou Port Phase II (North Area) project, which features Envision Energy 8.5MW and 14MW typhoon-resistent turbines. Envision reported that all the turbines "remained safe and stable under sustained winds even above 47 m/s."
Chinese turbine maker Mingyang meanwhile reported that its fleet of 1,345 offshore wind turbines “remained intact” in the face of the typhoon. One of those turbines was its 16.6MW OceanX twin-headed floating offshore wind prototype.
In another video (below) released by Mingyang featuring the OceanX, the prototype is seen rocking due to the force of the typhoon but it is reported to have survived without damage.
Mingyang said the design of the OceanX turbine, with single-point mooring and a wing-shaped tower, lets the platform “weathervane” 360 degrees in the direction of the typhoon, keeping its rotor aligned with the wind and reducing stress on the machine.