HANGZHOU, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- The core components of an offshore wind farm -- turbines, pile hammers and submarine cables -- are clustered within a 10-km industrial zone in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, slashing the distance from factory floor to offshore installation.
At a Goldwind factory, workers assemble turbine hubs and nacelles. A ZTT Group's cable plant sits less than 2 km away, while another nearby facility of Yongan Construction Machinery produces hydraulic pile hammers for marine construction. The compact layout allows major components to be manufactured, assembled and prepared for shipment in one area instead of being hauled over long distances.
Zhao Zihang, deputy general manager of Goldwind, said the company has exported more than 100 large wind turbines in 2025 to countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Chile and Laos.
A 16-MW floating turbine manufactured at Goldwind's Wenzhou base was later used on a platform installed off Yangjiang in south China's Guangdong Province in May, which is the world's largest floating offshore wind platform by single-unit capacity at the time of installation. Located more than 70 km offshore in waters deeper than 50 meters, the platform uses nine suction anchors, an active ballast system and a 66-kilovolt dynamic submarine cable to maintain stability and transmit electricity.
The industrial push comes as offshore wind development moves into deeper waters. The International Energy Agency says conventional fixed-bottom foundations become impractical as water depths exceed roughly 50 to 60 meters. Floating systems can unlock stronger deep-water wind resources but place heavier demands on turbine stability, mooring systems and power cables that must withstand constant wave-induced movement.
Wenzhou has more than 8,600 square km of sea area and a 1,293-km coastline. Its offshore waters record an average wind speed of more than 7.5 meters per second and over 3,200 usable wind-power hours annually. The city has mapped out 17 offshore wind projects with a combined planned capacity exceeding 20 GW, more than half of Zhejiang's total.
Another challenge is laying a solid foundation for wind turbines in the ocean. "For underwater pile hammers, especially high-energy models, China can now make equipment that is fully up to the task," said Lin Deng, chairman of Yongan, noting that such equipment had previously been supplied mainly by Dutch and German manufacturers.
A larger model in Yongan's product range, the YC-280, has a 280-tonne ram and maximum impact energy of 5,000 kJ. It is the world's largest single-acting hydraulic pile hammer, boosting offshore wind power construction and thus supporting China's dual carbon goals. In Wenzhou, that generated power has a clear destination: the server racks of data centers.
Envision Energy estimates the city's planned offshore wind output could cover more than 90 percent of local computing centers' electricity demand. The city, home to Zhejiang's first municipal artificial intelligence bureau, plans a green computing cluster powered entirely by renewables. In Pinghu, another Zhejiang city, offshore wind is already supporting tens of thousands of AI training and remote-sensing data-processing tasks each day at an intelligent computing center.
China had 47 GW of grid-connected offshore wind capacity at the end of 2025, according to the National Energy Administration. The country's 2026-2030 plan targets more than 100 GW by 2030. Wenzhou's compact supply chain is being positioned to support that expansion through turbine manufacturing, foundation equipment and deep-water power-transmission solutions. ■
