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The world’s largest wind turbine set a new electricity generation record – during a typhoon

The world’s largest offshore wind turbine has set a new world record for electricity generation by an individual wind turbine in a 24-hour period.

Goldwind’s GWH252-16MW intelligent wind turbine has a rotor diameter of 252 meters (827 feet). It also has a swept area of around 50,000 square meters (538,195 square feet) – the equivalent of seven standard football pitches. The turbine’s hub is 146 meters (479 feet) high – that’s as tall as a 50-story building.

The 16 MW wind turbine was installed in June at the Zhangpu Liuao Phase 2 offshore wind farm in the southeastern Fujian Province and came online on July 19. State-owned power company China Three Gorges (CTG) is developing and building Zhangpu Liuao Phase 2.

On September 1, the 16 MW wind turbine came up against wind speeds of around 85 km/h (53 mph) and a peak of 23.56 meters per second in the face of Typhoon Haikui, according to CTG.

As the South China Morning Post wrote of the smart turbine, “While traditional wind turbines automatically lock their blades to avoid overload when wind speeds exceed 25 meters per second, this intelligent unit can adjust its blades in real time, continuing to generate electricity.”

It produced 384.1 megawatt-hours in 24 hours – enough to power nearly 170,000 homes. That’s a new world record for an individual wind turbine in a single-day period.

The previous world record for the same time period was only just set in mid-August: Danish wind giant Vestas’s V236-15.0 MW prototype produced 363 megawatt-hours of power in 24 hours.

Read more: The world’s most powerful wind turbine has set a world record


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Avatar for Michelle Lewis Michelle Lewis

Michelle Lewis is a writer and editor on Electrek and an editor on DroneDJ, 9to5Mac, and 9to5Google. She lives in White River Junction, Vermont. She has previously worked for Fast Company, the Guardian, News Deeply, Time, and others. Message Michelle on Twitter or at michelle@9to5mac.com. Check out her personal blog.


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