Technology has revolutionized our world and daily lives over the years. We create a bigger lever for changing the world every time we develop a more innovative and powerful technology, because it would undergo its own evolution while driving the economy with its combination and recursiveness, as described by William Brian Arthur in his book The Nature of Technology.
With the constant iteration and evolution of offshore wind turbines, the wind turbine technology had upgraded from the traditional doubly-fed type to direct-drive one, and then has come to the hybrid drive which combines various technological advantages. Based on its rich experience in the remarkable and proven design of hybrid drive trains, MingYang Smart Energy Group has been consistently developing large-capacity turbines and currently provides the latest MySE11-203 with a high reliability and a lower LCoE for the offshore wind farm.
As a significant milestone, MySE11-203, the world's biggest hybrid drive wind turbine was born with its reliability gene from the aerospace industry. Designed based on the IEC wind class IB, new MySE11-203 features a nameplate capacity of 11 MW, a rotor diameter of 203 meters, a 31% higher annual energy production than its predecessor, a super compact design and an optimal substructure at lower cost. Its 99-meter long carbon-glass hybrid blades MySE11-99A1 provide a swept area of 32,365 m2, as approximately big as 5 standard football fields. Furthermore, just one MySE11-203 can save roughly 1.15 million tons of carbon dioxide compared to coal-fired power generation over a lifespan of 25 years.
The prototype of this offshore giant machine is planned to be erected in 2021 and commercially available in 2022, contributing to a robust growth of wind energy and a lower LCoE with its super high reliability.
The technology evolution has entitled MingYang’s hybrid drive platform, MySE, to have plenty of distinct advantages. The short and strong structure can reduce loads to the drivetrain of turbines, so that it is composed of less fragile components; the medium-speed gearbox is similar in structure to the aero-engine gearboxes with a high reliability gene; the compact design ensures the isolation inside the nacelle against corrosion caused by salty sea air; moreover,the lubrication system with high-precision 5µm filtration guarantees the high reliability and longer life of bearings and gear transmissions.
MingYang developed a series of hybrid turbines jointly with aerodyn engineering GmbH, a famous turbine design house in Germany, in 2010, and has worked closely with wind institutes like DNV-GL, Fraunhofer and TNO.
In 2015, MySE with 3 blades was launched, a new platform further developed with the hybrid drive technology. The MySE platform combines the technological evolution and incremental experiences in the proven technologies and the stable supply chain of components.
Up to the end of the first quarter of 2020, MingYang’s orders had reached 15.23GW, of which hybrid drive turbines accounted for about 92%. MingYang is forging ahead with strong confidence in the attributes of the MySE platform.
In CTG’s Xinghua Bay I pilot project, 8 wind turbine OEMs were invited to compete in a level playing field. Two MySE5.5-155 offshore wind turbines won in the fierce competition by presenting the best average energy productivity and availability and achieving a new record of the full load hour of 4,822h.
As a key to developing a carbon neutral system, offshore wind has great potential to combat climate changes. MingYang aims to become the leading global player of the offshore wind in the long term. Motivated by the strong growth of the European offshore wind market, MingYang has recently established the European business& engineering center in Hamburg, so as to introduce the latest offshore turbine products into the European market and deepen the technical and commercial cooperation with those parners in Europe. It is believed that with the technology originated from Europe and a strong global supply chain, MingYang could provide a competitive solution and a lower LCoE for the European offshore wind market.
In addition, MingYang has joined several international wind organizations like OREAC, WFO and GWEC, contributing also to the global general development of the offshore wind.
The powerful MySE11-203 highlights MingYang’s commitment to drive the continuous upgrading of the wind industry through innovation. By taking firm steps forward and adhering to the vision of “Born from Nature, Motivated Infinitely”, MingYang is sure to make great efforts to develop a greener, healthier and better world as always and provide the world with affordable renewable energy in the future.