Besides the MYSE and CSIC Haizhuang pilots off China, a ten-partner joint venture involving Shanghai Electric Wind (SEW) and others is still advancing research to develop a tension-leg platform (TLP) based model.

The joint venture is led by developer Shanghai Green Environmental Energy Corp (SGEEC), a subsidiary of utility company State Grid, but the project is funded by the Shanghai government, as Recharge previously reported.

The Shanghai Far & Deep Sea project looks set to either install 3.6MW or 6MW floating turbines in the waters east of Hengsha island, off Shanghai, a research paper of SGEEC published last year reported.

However, Recharge understands that progress on the the project has been slow, despite SEW previously saying it expected construction to start in 2020.

Two other Chinese OEMs, Goldwind and XEMC, have also conducted semisubmersible floating turbine research back to 2013, under China’s high-tech development “863 Program” funding scheme. However, it appears that neither has moved to the industrialisation phase.

Floating wind has been an almost exclusively European project since the first prototype, Equnior’s Hywind Demi, started turning in the Norwegian North Sea in 2009.

But that could soon start to change dramatically with many analysts now seeing at least 6GW of the 120GW in conventional offshore wind capacity expected to be installed globally by 2030 coming in the waters off China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and the region’s other — often island —nations, have a further 20GW-plus scoped for future development by then.

With additional reporting by Darius Snieckus

China poised for floating wind leap with trio of pilots