China’s National Development and Reform Commission has awarded turbine manufacturer, Sinovel, a grant of 42m yuan ($USD6.6m) to accelerate commercialisation of the company’s design for a 10MW offshore turbine.
Sinovel says it will combine the grant with 280m yuan ($44.0m) from its own coffers to progress with the 10MW machine, key components, and related, patented solutions. It will also fund further work on foundation design and demonstration projects.
News of the grant comes less than two months after Sinovel publicly signaled its intention to focus on a 10MW machine.
This spring, secretary general of the wind power division of China’s Association of Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers, Qi Hesheng, explained that producing a commercially-viable 10MW offshore wind turbine is a "key development" of the country’s 863 programme, which funds advances in high technology.
As previously reported by “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç Offshore, three companies have been competing to develop a 10MW machine: Sinovel, Goldwind and Guodian United Power. China’s Ministry of Science and Technology has said it will invest 16.3m yuan ($2.6m) to support 10MW designs, in the expectation that a prototype will be unveiled in 2015.
In other news, Sinovel recently announced it will build an turbine assembly factory in Hebei province to serve the area's emerging offshore wind market.
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