World’s Most Powerful Turbine From China Will Help Cut Electricity Price by 90%

China consistently prioritises energy security and strives to lead the world in utilising renewable electricity sources.

China is ready to test an airborne power generation system, which looks like an airship but generates power like a turbine.

It has the power to capture more wind energy than any floating turbine currently in operation. It also helps China to become a leader in the clean energy sector. The researchers say that it can produce an output that is 30 times more powerful than the best in other countries.

The system uses helium-filled aerostats to lift the equipment, which generates power to a certain height where it converts wind energy into electricity. This electricity is then transmitted to the floor through a cable.

The high-altitude wind is usually a very powerful and often unnoticed source of energy. At 1500 metres, the speed of the wind is three times faster than at ground level, so it can generate up to 27 times more energy. It is also very consistent in flow, so the energy will be steadier than that of ground-based turbines.

Dun Tianrui, founder and CEO of SAWES, who developed the turbine, said that its ultimate goal is to operate in the stratosphere (around 10,000 metres high), where the wind is 200 times more powerful, so that they can produce the electricity which will reduce to such a level that it will be one tenth of today’s price.

The team started researching and developing such a turbine in 2017 and has passed through three generations of technology. And this is not the first time China has tested a floating wind turbine. In October 2024, it developed the S500 buoyant airborne turbine.

China, which is highly dependent on imports, always prioritizes energy security and tries to lead the world when it comes to using renewable electricity sources like its expansive solar farms in western deserts and turbines built at sea.

The story is quite different in the US, where President Donald Trump called wind farms responsible for harming birds and marine mammals. On his first day in office, he stopped approvals for nearly completed offshore projects, which impacted the stock price of Orsted A/S, a Danish company that had dominated the sector for over thirty years after launching the world’s first offshore wind farm.

The latest setback came from Mitsubishi Corp, which announced that a group it led would withdraw from three offshore wind projects in Japan due to tighter supply chains and increasing costs.

Chinese manufacturers are trying to capture most of the market share since it has significant cost advantages, and Western companies are facing immense challenges at the moment.

China is able to capitalize on its renewable energy, but other countries have not been able to rapidly adopt China-like turbines due to a lack of extensive operational history, making foreign developers, insurers, and investors hesitant to proceed, especially in Europe, which has established and competitive players

Even in European countries that originally nurtured the industry after the 1970 oil crisis, enthusiasm for offshore wind projects is waning. Scotland approved a project that could create the largest site in the world, but an auction in Germany ended without a single bid, as the price increased. To date, there is one offshore project in Europe, the Taranto venture in southern Italy, which uses Chinese turbines.

These challenges are common to China, as it faces domestic turmoil and cutthroat competition. In 2021, the government phased out national feed-in tariffs, leading to a record high in installations following a sharp decline.

To counter the problem, the developer has begun scaling up, meaning even larger projects and bigger turbines. It resulted in significant clean energy for China’s coastal cities and a reduction in prices.