Day two and the ‘Prosperity’ event moves on to Chongqing – another huge city with a central population approaching six million and a wider municipality population of over twenty-eight million.
The first port of call in Chongqing was the recently formed National Engineering Research Centre for Offshore Windpower, an impressive collection of research activities focused on supporting the development of offshore wind.
We had an excellent meeting with senior management who were very keen to understand the testing and demonstration capabilities, and typical testing profiles, of our own facilities at Blyth as the research centre, and are currently planning to develop their own testing facilities to support the development of offshore wind in China.
The discussion then moved on to the offshore wind market in China, which has not developed as quickly as previously predicted due in part to the vast opportunities that still existed in the onshore wind market. The leading turbine manufacturers in China are taking a cautious approach to offshore wind development, with the first specifically designed offshore turbines likely to be rated in the 4 to 5MW range.
We’ve identified some excellent opportunities for future collaboration between ORE Catapult and the Chinese National Engineering Research Centre, and we look forward to working closely together to develop this further.