In an effort to produce efficient and low-cost turbines a Chinese company has introduced the world’s biggest hybrid drive wind turbine that can supply power to 20,000 households per year. According to the company, Mingyang Smart Energy Group, which produced the turbine, it is a 16 MegaWatt (MW) type wind turbine suitable for high-wind operations including typhoons. The company has been in the business of designing and producing turbines with 5.5 MW, 6.45MW, 7.25 MW, 8.3 MW, to 11 MW configurations.
Named MySE 16.0 -242, the 16 MW turbine has a diameter of 793 feet with 387 feet long blades. The 833 feet tall Turbine sweeps an area of 500,000 square feet, which is larger than six soccer fields. The Turbine is expected to generate 80,000 WM of power every year, enough to supply power to 20,000 households. What is more important is it will avoid the emission of 1.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide during its 25-year lifespan.
The cost of producing energy from the on-shore installation of the turbine is $31 dollars per MWh. This is quite comparable to solar as well as geothermal sources of energy production.