China’s Ming Yang planning massive 50-MW floating offshore wind turbine

Based on the design of its existing ‘twin-head’ design, the new unit would have a capacity of 50 MW, more than twice that of the largest offshore wind turbines being developed elsewhere.

The huge floating wind turbine was unveiled at the China Wind Power 2025 conference and exhibition in Beijing. Bloomberg News said the new unit would use two 25-MW wind turbines supported by a V-shaped tower. In a post on social media that included photos from a presentation by Ming Yang at the conference, TGS market analyst Chao Gio said the new design would have a rotor diameter of 290 m.

The design is derived from Ming Yang’s dual-rotor OceanX floater, which has two 8.3-MW MySE8.3-180 turbines installed and a total capacity of 16.6 MW, which entered into operation in late 2024.

The Chinese wind turbine manufacturer recently confirmed plans to create what would be Britain’s largest, and first fully integrated, wind turbine manufacturing facility.

The proposed facility, to be built in Scotland, would see the Chinese company invest up to £1.5Bn (US$2.0Bn) in a new wind turbine factory for turbines for fixed-bottom and floating offshore wind projects for the UK and for export. The investment plans are still subject to final approvals from the UK government and are an integral part of a wider pan-European strategy, in which other locations are being explored.