Chinese manufacturers unveil 27 new wind turbine models at China Wind Power

China moves at a different pace.

On October 16, 17, and 18, the China Wind Power 2024 fair was held in Beijing, one of the largest in the world alongside Wind Energy Hamburg, and undoubtedly the one with the greatest influence from Chinese OEMs and suppliers.

A total of 12 local manufacturers attended: Goldwind, Envision, Mingyang, Windey, CRRC, CSSC, SANY, SEWPG, Dongfang Electric, Sinovel, SinoAzure WindPower (formerly Harbin Electric), and TZCO.

Some of them, honestly, I hadn’t heard of before, and as you can see, none of the Western companies are present, having long exited the Chinese market (Siemens Energy is there, but very likely as a supplier of electrical equipment rather than turbines).

To provide some context, according to the GWEC (Global Energy Council), of the 116.6 GW of new wind power installed in 2023, China installed 66%, around 77 GW.

China celebrated the milestone of 500 GW installed in the country during this edition of the fair, representing nearly half of the global installations, which are now approaching 1,100 GW.

But the most impressive part is that these 12 manufacturers have introduced a total of 27 new models. This wave of presentations has been neatly summarized in a table on the China Wind News website, which we’ve tried to translate as best as possible from Windletter. Please, let me know any error.

As you can see, large rotor and high-power turbines were showcased, among them:

• Goldwind GWH300-20 (25 MW)
• Envision EN-272/16.7 MW
• CSSC Haizhuang H305-25MW
• Dongfang Electric H2X000-31X
• Shanghai Electric EW25.0-310
• …

What caught my attention in particular is the GWH204-4-4.55 MW from Goldwind, optimized for winds as low as 4.5-5 m/s. This means a power density of just 122 kW/m2, likely the lowest in a commercial wind turbine worldwide. I wonder if these machines can truly make locations with such low resources viable and profitable.

Interestingly, this model closely aligns with DTU’s low-wind turbine concept we’ve discussed before. It’s also fascinating how Goldwind scales the same platform with different powers optimized according to the average wind at each site.

Other interesting news from the fair included:

• Sany unveiling its test bench for turbines of up to 35 MW.
• A “self-discipline” pact between several manufacturers to avoid the race to the bottom in pricing, which is also happening in the Chinese market. It’s intriguing to see these types of agreements made public.
• Sinovel’s participation in the fair, a familiar name in the Spanish market.
• Mingyang becoming a member of the GWO (Global Wind Organization).
• TÜV Nord certifying Mingyang’s MySE18.X-260, which will surely help with bankability.

Thank you, Markel Meseguer San Martin, for the tips, and I’d like to recommend his notes on China Wind Power 2024 on LinkedIn.

Sergio Fdez Munguía

https://windletter.substack.com/p/windletter-93-la-lista-de-los-27?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1178124&post_id=150548506&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=ohn78&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email