The Ming Yang OceanX in the Qingzhou IV offshore wind farm near Yangjiang, China, on Aug. 8.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergChina Is Running the World’s Most Powerful Floating Wind Turbine
As rising costs and political opposition hold back projects from Rhode Island to Japan, Beijing is extending its clout in yet another clean-energy industry
Off the coast of southern China, a giant, double-headed turbine rises out from among its conventional counterparts, held up by a spiderweb of steel cables and tethered to the seabed below via three bright-yellow mooring points.
The OceanX design pushes the boundaries of engineering, able to harness more wind power than any other floating turbine operating in the world today. It’s also an eloquent symbol of the ambitions of Chinese green technology companies, securing their dominance of yet another clean-energy industry as stalwarts in Europe, the US and Japan run up against political and economic setbacks.