A view of the Qiyuan offshore wind farm in South China’s Hainan Province Photo: Screenshot from the People’s Daily

　　As a wind turbine with a hub height of 139.4 meters and a blade length of 118 meters began to rotate on Sunday, the first batch of units at the Qiyuan offshore wind farm in South China’s Hainan Province of Longyuan Power under the China Energy Investment Corporation (CHN Energy), were connected to the state grid and began generating electricity, the People’s Daily reported on Monday.

　　The project will install 22 units of 10-megawatt and 20 units of 14-megawatt wind turbines. Once fully operational, it is expected to deliver more than 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours of clean electricity annually. This is equivalent to saving approximately 467,000 tons of coal consumption and reducing 1.271 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, the report said.

　　Li Hao, deputy general manager of CHN Energy Longyuan Power’s Hainan branch company, said in the report that the 14-megawatt single-unit turbines are put into operation for the first time. He added that technologies such as horizontal directional drilling, combined with drone-assisted surveys, have been adopted to effectively protect the marine seabed ecosystem.

　　China’s offshore wind power industry is forging new competitive advantages on the global stage. The installation of a 20-megawatt offshore wind turbine has set a new world record for the largest single-unit capacity deployed in a real marine environment.