China had built and connected 39.1 million kilowatts of offshore wind power to its national grid by the third quarter of 2024, becoming the first country globally to achieve that milestone, according to a conference on offshore wind power industrial chain cooperation.

China has formed relatively complete technological and industrial chains of offshore wind power, covering design, manufacturing, construction, operations and maintenance, according to the conference held on Saturday in Beihai, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The conference participants discussed strategic innovation, key offshore wind power technologies, and international cooperation on modern offshore wind power industrial chains.

Rich in its offshore wind energy resources, China has seen fast development in the industrial chains. China's installed offshore wind power capacity grew from under 5 million kilowatts in 2018 to 37.7 million kilowatts as of 2023, accounting for 50 percent of the global total.

The localization rate of offshore wind turbines in China has surpassed 90 percent.

In the future, the offshore wind power industry should innovate in its industrial integration models, strengthen core technology research and deepen coordinated industrial development to form internationally competitive industrial clusters, said Shu Yinbiao, an academic at the Chinese Academy of Engineering. 

(Cover: Offshore wind turbines near Pingtan County in Fuzhou City, southeast China's Fujian Province, May 14, 2024. /CFP)