China Unveils World's Largest Offshore Wind Turbine – And It's Utterly Huge

China is continuing to push the boundaries of wind energy technology. In a major milestone last year, the China Dongfang Electric Corporation finished making the world’s largest offshore wind turbine, an engineering giant capable of powering an entire town. 

With a hub height of 185 meters (606 feet) – equivalent to a 63-story skyscraper – the single 26-megawatt (MW) turbine can potentially generate 100 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of renewable electricity each year when operating with wind speeds of 10 meters (32 feet) per second.

This is 31 percent larger than the previous record of 18 MW and exceeds the size of even the biggest turbines announced but not yet built, according to BloombergNEF data.

Its output is enough to power approximately 55,000 homes annually while eliminating the need for more than 30,000 tons of coal and preventing over 80,000 tons of CO₂ from entering the atmosphere.

Built for the harsh marine environment where it will operate, the turbine is engineered to be exceptionally tough. It boasts a typhoon-resistant design that can withstand powerful tropical storms, while its fully sealed construction and advanced anti-corrosion systems shield it from the relentless damage caused by salt spray.

In November 2024, the company announced that the turbine was being rolled off the production line at the Fujian Fuzhou Offshore Wind Power Industrial Park and will soon be ready to do its thing. 

“From Asia’s first 10 MW and 13 MW turbines to the world’s largest 18 MW and now 26 MW turbines, Dongfang Electric has led China into the era of large-megawatt offshore wind power. This progress supports China’s offshore wind power leadership, transitioning from a follower to a global leader, and provides robust technical support for building a new power system in China and achieving the ‘dual carbon’ strategy,” the China Dongfang Electric Corporation said in an announcement.

China is the world leader in wind energy production with the largest installed capacity of any nation. In 2023, the country installed 77.1 gigwatts (GW) of wind power, accounting for 65 percent of the global total. 

It’s also the biggest producer of wind turbines and a pioneer of their design. In 2023, the China Three Gorges Corporation switched on the world’s largest turbine. Sitting among the Fuijian offshore wind farm in the Taiwan Strait, this behemoth is 152 meters (500 feet) tall, and each single blade is 123 meters (403 feet) long and weighs 54 tons. However, it looks like this giant offshore turbine won't be the largest for much longer. 

Along with wind power, China is rapidly emerging as the dominant force in solar power. Between March 2023 and March 2024, the country added more solar capacity than it had in the previous three years combined and more than the entire world installed in 2023. It reached its goal of achieving 1,200 GW of combined wind and solar capacity by the end of 2024, achieving its national target a full six years ahead of schedule.

However, a surge in coal power construction is casting a shadow over their clean energy gains. In 2024 alone, the East Asian giant began building 94.5 GW of new coal capacity and revived 3.3 GW of stalled projects – the highest rate of construction in a decade. 

Despite its best efforts, China relies heavily on coal, the dirtiest of fossil fuels, and remains the largest emitter of carbon in the world by a long shot.