Experts at an international wind power technology conference stated that the building of a ground transmission testing and research platform for offshore wind turbines in Shantou, Guangdong province, will foster innovation in China’s wind power technology.

Launched during the recent international wind power technology and innovation conference, which wrapped up in Shantou over the weekend, is the 40-megawatt wind turbine electrical and dynamic experimental platform.

According to Qin Haiyan, secretary-general of the Chinese Wind Energy Association, “This experimental platform will enhance the reliability of wind turbine designs and enable exploration of mechanical theories and improvement in the accuracy of future simulation analysis.”

After spending roughly 1 billion yuan ($140 million), the platform can simulate the ground conditions of an offshore wind turbine with a capacity of 40 MW under actual load conditions, making it the largest and most advanced experimental research platform for ground transmission systems of offshore wind turbines worldwide.

Qin, who is also the vice-chairman of the World Wind Energy Association, stated, “As wind power has developed rapidly, the capacity of individual units has increased a lot over the past few years.”

According to Qin, the transmission chain for wind power has changed from being rigid to flexible in the past. Adding the platform would be essential in fostering technological advancement and research.

“With the increasing force it bears, the load on offshore wind turbines with capacities exceeding 30 MW becomes very complex,” said Qin.

According to Qin, it’s unclear how it will function and hold up under such complicated load conditions. “As a result, it is necessary to rely on large scientific devices to conduct experiments,” he stated.

The testing platform’s construction is a significant component of the city of Shantou’s 396 kilometers of coastline, which the local government is using to build an international wind power innovation port in the future.

According to Wen Zhanbin, the Party chief of Shantou, Shantou has the distinct advantage of developing the offshore wind power industry because of its long coastline and an average annual offshore wind speed of about 30 km/h.

China has developed a complete offshore wind power industry chain, accounting for 73 percent of global capacity, according to a development report on the global offshore wind energy industry chain that was released at the conference.

According to the report, China currently holds a 60% market share in wind turbine capacity globally, a 64% market share in blade capacity globally, and an 80% market share in gearbox capacity globally.

The report states that China has emerged as the global leader in offshore wind power development, with the largest cumulative installed capacity of any country.

A statement on “building a global community of the wind power industry through cooperation and innovation” states that “accelerated development of the global wind power industry is an objective necessity to achieve climate goals.”

About 600 representatives from industry, government, and academia representing more than 20 nations and regions attended the conference to talk about topics pertaining to international collaboration in the wind power sector and wind power technologies.