Author: Jiang Bo

Edited by Yang Yi

It's time to showcase the latest technologies and products in the wind power industry once a year.

Huaxia Energy Network (public number hxny3060) learned that from October 16th to 18th, the 2024 Beijing International Wind Energy Conference and Exhibition (CWP2024, referred to as "North Wind Exhibition" in the industry) will be held in Beijing.

It is understood that there are nearly 1,000 exhibitors in the North Wind Exhibition, involving the whole industrial chain of wind turbines, blades, gearboxes, bearings, towers, wires and cables, engineering hoisting, operation and maintenance.

As a global wind power industry event, the important reason why the North Wind Exhibition can attract the attention of all wind power people is that it has built a stage for the latest products and technologies of wind power enterprises in the year. Last year, Huaxia Wind Power reported on the 2023 North Wind Exhibition, and a number of machine manufacturers released a number of large-scale offshore and onshore units, the most remarkable of which was the official debut of the world's most continental wind turbine with a capacity of up to 15MW, which amazed the whole industry.

Since the beginning of this year, the wind power industry has achieved unprecedented development, and new breakthroughs have been made in technology, and blockbuster products have been launched one after another during the year. So what amazing new products and technologies will be unveiled at this wind energy exhibition? Huaxia Wind Power will continue to pay attention during the exhibition.

New product: Larger units with longer blades

The development of wind power in 2024 continues the main theme of 2023, and the wind power machine continues to develop towards "large-scale" and achieves new breakthroughs.

In terms of onshore wind power, the data shows that in 2023, the single capacity of wind turbines that will be offline and hoisted will be roughly 10MW-11MW, and the largest is the 15MW sea and land shared model launched by Sany Renewable Energy (SH: 688349), but at that time, the unit has not officially revealed the "true face of Lushan".

However, by 2024, the development of 15MW+ units has entered the fast lane, and many OEMs have announced relevant progress.

In June, the "R&D and Application of 16 MW Ultra-large Onshore Wind Turbines" project led by Yunda Co., Ltd. (SZ: 300772) was approved with an approved capital of 10 million yuan, and the project is a major demonstration project of scientific and technological innovation in the Mongolia Autonomous Region.

On October 8, the onshore 15 MW wind turbine independently developed by Sany Renewable Energy was hoisted in Tongyu, Jilin Province, which also set two global records for the largest single unit capacity and the largest impeller diameter of the hoisted onshore unit. This comes less than a year after the first release of the model.

In the offshore wind power market, the progress of large-scale wind turbines is faster than that of onshore wind power. As early as June 2023, Goldwind (SZ:002202) completed the hoisting of 16MW offshore wind turbines in Pingtan City, Fujian Province, and set three global records for the largest single unit capacity, the largest impeller diameter, and the lightest unit megawatt weight of the hoisted units.

Entering 2024, the news of offshore 16MW+ wind turbines being offline and hoisted continues one after another.

In January, Envision Energy's 16-18MW offshore unit rolled off the assembly line in Sheyang Zero Carbon Industrial Park, Jiangsu; In May, the EN-256/16.7 prototype developed by the company was connected to the grid in Sheyang, Jiangsu. The single capacity of this model reached 16.7MW, which was the largest single capacity wind turbine connected to the grid in the world at that time.

In March, CRRC Zhuzhou Institute released the world's largest 20MW floating wind turbine "Qihang", according to reports, the wind turbine diameter of the unit is 260 meters, and the maximum blade tip height can reach 320 meters.

At the beginning of June, Electric Wind Power (SH: 688660) released the world's largest single-unit low-frequency offshore wind turbine, which has a single capacity of 16MW; On the 26th of the same month, Dongfang Electric's 18MW model was connected to the grid at the Shantou Wind Power Linhai Test Base in Guangdong, once again setting a new world record for the single capacity of grid-connected units. Four days later, CSSC Haizhuang completed the hoisting of its 18MW offshore wind turbine at its Yingkou plant in Liaoning Province.

At the beginning of July, Electric Wind Power rolled off the assembly line in Shantou with two offshore wind turbines, one of which is the world's first 18-20MW wind storage and load grid unit - EW18~20-260, with a single capacity of up to 20MW.

On October 12, the 26 MW offshore wind turbine developed by Dongfang Electric rolled off the assembly line in Fuqing, Fujian. According to reports, the unit is currently the world's largest single capacity, the longest impeller diameter of the offshore domestic wind turbine.

As wind turbines continue to set new records on the road to large-scale, the specifications of wind turbine blades are getting longer and longer.

At the beginning of January, Times New Materials (SH: 600458) rolled off the first 120-meter offshore wind turbine blade in Sheyang, Jiangsu; On the 22nd, Sany Renewable Energy officially announced that the company's 131-meter onshore wind turbine blade has been successfully rolled off the assembly line, setting a new record for the world's longest onshore wind turbine blade; In May, Mingyang Intelligent (SH:601615) 143-meter wind turbine blades rolled off the assembly line; In September, Goldwind completed the static load test of its GW147 wind turbine blades in Yangjiang. According to reports, the blade has a total length of 147 meters, and if installed on the wind turbine, the impeller diameter can reach 300 meters, which is the longest wind power blade that has been rolled off the assembly line in the world.

New technology: higher, farther

Wind resources are everywhere, but quality resources are limited. After 30 years of wind power development in China, the areas of high-quality wind resources have almost been exhausted. Nowadays, wind power development projects are increasingly moving towards high altitudes and deep seas.

The high-altitude areas are mainly located in western China, and wind power projects are mainly concentrated in these areas where the conditions for hydropower and photovoltaic power generation are not good, and the purpose of complementing each other and maximizing the use of renewable energy has been achieved.

In new energy projects, places with an altitude of 3,500 to 5,500 meters are generally referred to as ultra-high altitude areas. Since the beginning of this year, new progress has been made in high-altitude wind power projects, breaking many records.

On July 10, the world's highest altitude wind power project under construction, the first wind turbine hoisting operation of Datang Tibet Basu 100 MW guaranteed grid-connected wind power project was completed.

On August 3, the first batch of units of Wuqia Wind Farm was officially put into operation in Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang. The project is not only the westernmost wind farm in China, but also the highest wind farm in Northwest China.

In October, Tibet Huadian Shannan Qiongjie 60MW wind power energy storage project officially broke ground, the project is located in Nagquseni District, Tibet, wind turbines are built between 4,850 meters and 5,127 meters above sea level, with an average altitude of 5,000 meters and a total installed capacity of 100 megawatts. With an ultra-high altitude of 5,370 meters, the project has become the world's highest altitude wind power energy storage integration project.

In addition, since the beginning of this year, the development of deep-sea wind power has also ushered in new breakthroughs.

Floating wind turbines are one of the best options for deep-sea wind power development. In March this year, CRRC Zhuzhou released the world's largest 20MW floating wind turbine "Qihang", becoming the largest single capacity model among such products that have been released so far.

In April, the floating foundation of Mingyang Intelligent Twin Rotor Floating Unit "Mingyang Tiancheng" was launched, which is the world's first offshore wind power platform with two wind turbines installed on a floating foundation, and it is also the floating wind power platform with the largest single capacity in the world.

The road of wind power to the deep sea is also inseparable from the upgrading of installation ships and operation and maintenance ships. Previously, one of the main reasons for the slow development of global sea wind was the shortage of installed vessels.

In January this year, the Qidong COSCO SHIPPING Offshore N1063 self-elevating wind power installation vessel was launched, which can transport and install 7 complete sets of 15MW or 5 sets of units above 20MW, which is the world's most advanced offshore wind power installation vessel at that time.

In May, China Railway Bridge Bureau's 2,000-ton jack-up offshore wind power installation platform "Bridge Sea Breeze" was delivered, which has the integrated construction capacity of two sets of 25 MW wind turbines for transportation and installation, and can complete the installation of a wind turbine within 48 hours at the earliest.

In June, the 2,000-ton self-elevating and self-propelled wind power installation ship "China Railway Construction Wind Power 2000" invested and built by China Railway Construction Port and Shipping Bureau Group Co., Ltd. was launched in Haiyang, Shandong. The vessel has the installation capacity of different types of offshore units of 20MW and above.

In terms of operation and maintenance vessels, in March, the 5,000-ton self-propelled full-slewing crane ship "Zhongtian 39" built by Zhenhua Heavy Industries (SH: 600320) completed sea trials, which is China's first large-scale offshore wind power multi-functional operation and maintenance mother ship independently designed, built and with completely independent intellectual property rights.

On June 13, the multi-functional operation and maintenance mother ship "Fenghua 23", designed by the 708th Research Institute of China Shipbuilding Group and built by Southeast Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of Fujian Shipbuilding, was officially delivered. According to reports, the ship is a large-scale offshore wind power multi-functional operation and maintenance mother ship independently designed and built by China with completely independent intellectual property rights.

In October, Zhenhua Heavy Industries completed the delivery of Asia's first wind power operation and maintenance mother ships "Zhizhen 100" and "Zhicheng 60" built for Electric Wind Power. "Zhicheng 60" has realized the application of the first retractable trestle with wave compensation function in China, and the active wave compensation trestle is the most critical core equipment for wind power operation and maintenance mother ships.

From now on, Huaxia Energy Network will release the latest developments and related reports of the 2024 "North Wind Exhibition", so stay tuned!