Chinese wind giant targeting Europe factory launches 24.5MW floating turbine
News comes after Mingyang announced plan to open huge factory in Scotland to serve fixed bottom and floating offshore wind farm projects in UK and Europe
China’s Mingyang, which recently announced plans to open an factory in the UK, is launching a colossal 24.5MW floating offshore wind turbine.
Mingyang will officially launch the new model today at the China Wind Power summit taking place this week in Beijing.
The wind turbine will have a 290-metre diameter and a 165-metre hub height. Its floating foundation will be made from semi-submersible ultra-high strength concrete.
It is designed for water depths of 45 metres or deeper and will have an IEC S rating.
The news will prick ears of European as well as Chinese floating wind developers after Mingyang announced this month that it hopes to open a wind turbine factory in Scotland in 2028.
The planned £1.5bn ($2bn) fully integrated facility would produce fixed bottom and floating wind turbines that Mingyang hopes to sell in the UK, Europe and beyond.
That plan is still subject to approval from the UK government, however, and comes at a sensitive time in the country’s relations with China.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has come under pressure from the Trump Administration in the US not to become too cosy with the Asian superpower.
There are also concerns in the European wind industry around the deployment of Chinese wind turbines, with questions over cybersecurity and their impact on the supply chain. Chinese manufacturers insist their machines pose no threat to Western countries.
Mingyang last year launched a groundbreaking 16.6MW twin-headed prototype that has survived two super-typhoons since its deployment last year.
A 24.5MW machine would dwarf the most powerful turbines commercially available today in the West at 15MW. Several Chinese wind giants are developing fixed-bottom offshore wind platforms in the 25MW and even 26MW range.