World’s most powerful onshore wind turbine turns on
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.
Indeed, at 15MW, the turbine is rated the same as the largest offshore wind turbines produced in the West.