The 150MW Jiangsu Rudong offshore wind farm, located off the coast of Rudong County, Jiangsu Province of East China, is the largest offshore wind farm in China. It is also the first intertidal offshore demonstration wind farm in the country. The wind farm began full commercial operation in November 2012.
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The wind farm was built by China Longyuan Power Group through its subsidiary Jiangsu Longyuan Offshore Wind Power. China Longyuan Power Group is a subsidiary of the state-owned China Guodian.
The construction of the offshore wind power project started in June 2011. It is being carried out in two phases. The first phase with an installed capacity of 100MW was completed by the end of 2011 and the 50MW second phase was completed by November 2012.
The developers of the project assert that the plant is capable of generating about 375m kWh of electricity per year while reducing 247,000t carbon dioxide emissions and saving 97,000t of standard coal.
The wind farm is being showcased as a reference for Chinese prowess in offshore wind power technology and an innovative model for nationwide wind power development across the Chinese Sea in the future.
Jiangsu Rudong offshore wind project details
The 150MW Jiangsu Rudong project was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission of China in December 2010 following the successful completion of a 32MW Offshore Pilot Wind Farm in the intertidal zone off the coast of Rudong.
Construction on the 150MW project started in June 2011. The 32MW pilot project had taken 16 months to complete construction, whereas the 100MW phase I and the 50MW phase II of the Jiangsu Rudong project took just five months and four months respectively to complete.
Grid connection for all of the turbines was completed in September 2012.
The project involved an estimated total investment of CNY 2.32bn ($397m).
Offshort windfarm construction
The offshore construction equipments were carried in a barge. Since the construction activities were carried out in an intertidal zone, the barge was moved in the sea during tide rising time and was stopped for installation of equipment after the tide fell.
Jiangsu Longyuan Zhenhua Marine Engineering manufactured and supplied most of the offshore construction equipment, including more than 20 special ships, such as a cable ship, disanchor boat, lifting ship, transport barge and the specially designed flat-bottom construction barge.
The construction barge was equipped with a 360-degree slewing lifting system with 800t capacity and S-800 hydraulic hammers. The S-800 hydraulic hammers were supplied by IHC Holland.
The turbine foundations were initially built through multiple-pipe pile solution. The wind farm, however, gradually employed large scale application of single-pile driving technology as single-pipe pile solution proved more efficient than the latter.
Jiangsu Rudong offshore wind farm make-up
The Rudong Offshore wind farm is situated in an intertidal area of East China Sea, approximately 3km to 8km away from shore. The location becomes dry with low tide but is covered by up to five meters of water at high tide. The location advantages of the wind farm include shallow water zone and good wind condition.
The 100MW phase I is installed with 21 Siemens wind turbines each rated 2.38MW with rotor diameter of 101m and 17 Sinovel wind turbines each rated 3MW with rotor diameter of 90m.
The 50MW phase II was installed with 20 Goldwind wind turbines each rated 2.5MW with rotor diameter of 100m.
The Siemens turbines are grounded on multi-jacket foundations whereas the other turbines are grounded on 5.2m diameter monopile foundations.
Future of offshore wind power market in China
Related project
Thornton Bank Offshore Wind Farm, North Sea, Belgium
Thornton Bank is the first offshore wind farm to be constructed in Belgium. It is located in the North Sea, about 30km off of the Belgian coast.
Wind power, followed by thermal power and hydropower, is the third largest electric power in China accounting for 1.5% of China’s total power generation. It is being promoted as a crucial non hydraulic renewable energy source with far-reaching potential for the country. The national energy policy of China envisages a total installed capacity of 100GW of wind power by 2015.
China is, however, relatively new to offshore wind power development. As of January 2013, the present 150MW Jiangsu Rudong Offshore wind farm apart, the 102MW Shanghai East Sea Bridge Offshore Wind Farm was the only commercial-scale offshore wind farm in the country.
China has adopted an aggressive plan for promoting offshore wind power in near future. The National Energy Policy warrants 5GW of offshore wind power capacity by 2015 and 30GW by 2030.
As many as 10 offshore wind power projects are scheduled to be started in 2013 including another 150MW Offshore Wind farm in the Rudong county and the 116.6MW Shanghai Donghai Bridge (phase II) Offshore Wind Farm.
A professional global platform called Offshore Wind China 2012 was conducted in June 2012 to promote the nascent offshore wind industry of China to the next level through cooperation and exchange. An Offshore Wind China 2013 event will be held in Shanghai.
