First wind farm with 16MW turbines begins operations

The world's first offshore wind farm using 16 MW turbines was put into operation and started power generation on Wednesday, operator China Three Gorges Corporation said.

Located in Fujian province, the turbine, equipped with a 152-meter hub, has the world's longest impeller diameter of 252 meters, a swept area of around 50,000 square meters and the lightest per megawatt weight.

The wind farm is capable of producing more than 66 Gigawatt-hours of clean electricity per year, capable of meeting the annual electricity demand of 36,000 households and equivalent to saving about 22,000 tons of standard coal and reducing approximately 54,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

The operation marks an important breakthrough for China's offshore wind power industry in terms of high-end equipment manufacturing and deep-sea offshore wind power construction, reaching an internationally leading level.