A 25,000-tonne mass of steel, with the surface area of a football field and the height of a 15-story building, is currently crossing the ocean aboard an immense semi-submersible ship. The latest great milestone in Asian engineering is already underway. This colossus has just set sail from the port of Nantong, in the eastern province of Jiangsu, on a 1,090 nautical mile journey to southern China.
The protagonist of this monumental journey is called “Hai Feng Zhi Xin“, which translated into Spanish means “heart of the sea wind.” As highlighted in an official statement collected by the agency PR Newswireit is the largest offshore converter station in the world, built by the state-owned Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (ZPMC). Its destination is the waters off the city of Yangjiang, where it will connect to the mammoth Qingzhou V and Qingzhou VII offshore wind farms, operated by the corporation Three Gorges.
The “bottleneck” of offshore wind. To understand the magnitude of this project, you have to understand the historical problem that the wind sector faced. As the news agency explains XinhuaUntil now, the development of offshore wind energy has hit a physical wall. Conventional wind turbines produce electricity in alternating current (AC). The problem is that transmitting this alternating current through submarine cables over long distances causes severe and unaffordable energy losses.
This technical limitation forced engineers to build wind farms in relatively shallow waters and very close to the coast. However, the wind resource is much stronger, stable and constant the further you go into the open sea. That’s where the technological solution of this new project comes into play as it acts as the largest power adapter on the planet. It collects the energy generated by no less than 163 wind turbines, increases its voltage and converts that alternating current into direct current (DC).
So why is this a game changer? Because direct current can travel hundreds of kilometers underwater with minimal energy loss. The platform boasts a record unit capacity of 2,000 megawatts (MW) and operates with a flexible ±500 kilovolts (kV) direct current transmission system. In addition, it is a pioneer in the use of ±525 kV submarine cables for these distances.
This technical conversion unlocks access to high-quality wind resources located more than 100 kilometers offshore, making ultra-deepwater wind finally commercially viable. When at full capacity, this metal “heart” will pump out 6 billion kWh of clean electricity a year, a vital boost to the decarbonization efforts of the industrialized Guangdong region.
A 25,000 ton giant. Building a power plant in the middle of the raging deep ocean is not a viable option. The project was approached as a gigantic set of modular parts. Assembly, integration of all equipment and installation progressed in parallel onshore (Nantong), demanding an unprecedented level of supply chain coordination.
Yan Bing, Senior Specialist of ZPMC cited by PR Newswireexplains that they adopted an integrated construction model of “land assembly, transportation as a single unit, and float-over installation.” This offshore installation method is overwhelmingly complex, requiring millimeter-level adjustment precision amidst strong ocean currents to fit the superstructure.
Once locked into place, the platform’s working environment will be unforgiving. As detailed Xinhuawill operate completely autonomously, without a permanent human crew, controlled through intelligent maintenance and remote monitoring systems. Inside, a dense network of electrical, ventilation and fire control systems has been specially armored to resist the very high salinity and corrosive humidity of the deep ocean.
The urgency of this megaproject. This feat is within China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030). The Asian country has set the goal of reaching 100 gigawatts (GW) of installed offshore wind energy capacity by 2030.
China’s problem is that its nearshore wind resources are quickly becoming saturated. Just in February this year, the country connected the first 20-megawatt offshore wind turbine to the grid in Fujian province (made entirely from domestic components), followed by the installation of the world’s largest floating wind platform in Yangjiang.
The 100 kilometers from the coast are no longer an unbreakable border. With the imminent ignition of its new energy node, China not only alleviates the energy hunger of its coastal areas, but also establishes a replicable technical model that demonstrates to the entire world that the future of clean energy inevitably requires losing sight of the shore.
Image | Xu Congjun/Xinhua
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