Ming Yang Smart Energy unveiled plans to install an 11MW offshore wind turbine prototype next year in another step-up in power by China’s OEMs – and said it has its sights set on winning business in Europe as well as at home.

Ming Yang said the MySE11-203 – which it’s launching as “the world's biggest hybrid-drive wind turbine” – will be commercially available from 2022.

The 203-metre diameter rotor features 99-metre carbon-glass hybrid blades, while the OEM is billing “the aerospace industry heritage” of its hybrid platform and medium-speed gearbox. Hybrid-drive turbines, developed in conjunction with Germany’s Aerodyn Engineering, are claimed to combine the best performance and size attributes of direct-drive and geared systems.

Deploying the turbine at 11MW nameplate capacity would see Ming Yang pass rival OEM Dongfang Electric, which is currently installing a 10MW machine that will be the largest in the Chinese market. Only western rivals GE Renewable Energy at 12MW and Siemens Gamesa at 14MW are currently marketing more powerful models.

Ming Yang has rapidly emerged as one of the most ambitious Chinese manufacturers, with recently-announced plans to work on developing a turbine as large as 15MW and a 10MW floating model, backed up by forays into the financial markets to raise large amounts of capital to fund its plans.

Like rivals Goldwind, Dongfang and Shanghai Electric, the company is competing for a share of a Chinese offshore wind market that could be the world’s largest as soon as 2025.

But launching the 11MW model, Ming Yang made it clear it has wider ambitions, pointing to its recently-established corporate base in Hamburg, Germany “to introduce the latest offshore turbine products into the European market and deepen the technical and commercial cooperation with those partners in Europe”.

“It is believed that with the technology originated from Europe and a strong global supply chain, Ming Yang could provide a competitive solution and a lower levellised cost of energy for the European offshore wind market,” claimed the Chinese OEM.

Wind

Ming Yang targets Europe as 11MW wind turbine raises bar for China