World's tallest steel-concrete wind turbine tower begins operation in China

(ECNS) -- The world's tallest wind turbine with a steel-concrete tower has begun commercial operation in Xinji, Hebei Province, marking a new milestone in China's development of ultra-tall wind power infrastructure, China Huadian Corp. said Wednesday.

The turbine has a hub height of 204 meters, roughly the height of a 70-story residential building. Its elevated position enables it to tap into stronger and more stable winds at higher altitudes and could make wind power generation viable in areas with average wind speeds below 4.5 meters per second.

The turbine employs a domestically developed steel-concrete tower system designed to reduce the risk of structural resonance. Its modular construction also allows the tower to be built in sections, providing a potential model for wind power projects in flat, low-wind areas.

Compared with turbines of the same scale mounted on 160-meter towers, the new turbine is expected to increase annual operating hours by about 220 hours and boost annual power generation by 6%.

The turbine is part of a wind power project cluster in Xinji. Once the cluster is fully operational, it is expected to generate about 2.065 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, while saving roughly 692,500 metric tons of standard coal and cutting carbon dioxide emissions by about 1.7 million metric tons.

(By Evelyn)