Ming Yang Working on 12MW Wind Turbine

Ming Yang are working on a design for a 12 MW wind turbine. The company said the design was at an early stage and the company was unable to reveal further details. The 12MW SCD model is listed on the company’s website.

Last week Ming Yang launched a 6.5MW SCD prototype featuring a permanent magnetic synchronous generator. The machine has been designed for the typhoon environment in China’s offshore areas, said Ming Yang. The company was unable to give the length of the blade.

A lack of development in China’s offshore sector has not stopped the country’s manufacturers from pushing ahead with designs for 10MW+ machines. Guodian United Power, Sinovel and Goldwind are all working on similar size capacity models.

Although turbine size has soared in recent years, there is more to building a 10MW+ machine than increasing size. The need to reduce size and mass required for a 10MW+ turbine presents a substantial engineering challenge.

At last year’s European Wind Energy Association’s annual conference and exhibition, engineering consultancy Mecal revealed its 12MW design. The company’s starting point was a 6MW offshore turbine with 155-metre rotor diameter and 98-meter hub height. In-house experience, engineering know-how and a comprehensive database combined with wind turbine scaling trends resulted in 12MW with 200-metre rotor diameter and 120-metre hub height.