Surrounded by blue sea and azure sky, the tall white wind turbines stand high. With the huge blades rotating leisurely, wind is transformed into a driving force for social and economic development.

 

As foreign media correspondents and social media influencers of the "A Date with China" 2022 international media tour came to the Fujian Three Gorges Maritime Wind Power Industrial Park on Wednesday, they saw how Fujian leads offshore wind power industry and contributes to achieving China’s carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals with the "blue engine".

 

Photo taken on July 20, 2022 shows the "A Date with China" 2022 international media tour group visiting the centralized control center of the Fujian Three Gorges Maritime Wind Power Industrial Park in Fuzhou, east China's Fujian. (Photo provided by A Date with China)

 

China vowed to attain carbon dioxide emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. Driven by the goals, the country has stepped up its green and low-carbon efforts in recent years, developing new energy sources and increasing their proportion in primary energy consumption nationwide, which created broad space for the development of offshore wind power industry.

 

Photo taken on July 20, 2022 shows the centralized control center of the Fujian Three Gorges Maritime Wind Power Industrial Park in Fuzhou, east China's Fujian. (Photo provided by A Date with China)

 

The Fujian Three Gorges Maritime Wind Power Industrial Park is a strategic cooperation project between Three Gorges group and Fujian Province. A staff member of the park told the reporter that the eastern region is short of onshore wind power compared with the northeast, north and northwest of China. The park thus makes use of its geographical advantages located in coastal areas and the location advantages close to the eastern load center to vigorously develop offshore wind power.

 

After nearly six years of development, the industrial park has constructed a complete industrial chain of wind turbine capable of producing, distributing and providing after-sales services for wind turbines with an annual output of more than 3 million kilowatts of clean electricity and major components.

 

In February this year, a 13-megawatt typhoon-resistant offshore wind turbine was launched in the park, the installed capacity of which is the largest in the Asia-Pacific region.

 

Photo taken on July 20, 2022 shows a 13-megawatt typhoon-resistant offshore wind turbine in the Fujian Three Gorges Maritime Wind Power Industrial Park in Fuzhou, east China's Fujian. (Photo provided by A Date with China)

 

"When it spins around once, 22.8 kilowatts of clean electricity is generated, and the annual output of a single wind turbine can reach 50 million kilowatts, able to meet the annual energy consumption of 25,000 average families," said Su Ninglie, deputy secretary of the Party branch and deputy general manager of Dongfang Electric Wind Power (Fujian) Co., Ltd, developer of the equipment.

 

The application of wind turbines has greatly contributed to energy conservation and emission reduction, and will also drive the upgrading of the whole wind power industry chain, he added.

 

Accordingly, the overall value of products in the industrial park reached 10 billion yuan ($1.48 billion) in 2021. In addition to being widely used in China's domestic market, products of the park are also sold to countries along the “Belt and Road”, such as the UK, Ethiopia, and Turkey.

 

The growing offshore wind power industry in Fujian intrigued foreign media correspondents and social media influencers during the tour.

 

Photo taken on July 20, 2022 shows the "A Date with China" 2022 international media tour group visiting the Fujian Three Gorges Maritime Wind Power Industrial Park in Fuzhou, east China's Fujian. (Photo provided by A Date with China)

 

Russian video blogger Sabina Makarova noted that the development of clean and renewable energy is the trend of the future, and that it is good to see that Fujian occupies a leading position in the field of wind turbine industry. "I’ve heard that a single wind turbine unit can meet the power needs of 20,000 to 30,000 households. I think it's very powerful. Fujian's offshore wind power industry has made a great contribution to green and low-carbon," she said.

 

"The transition to clean and renewable energy is a global trend, so how to develop sustainable clean energy is an important problem faced by all countries. There is much to be learned from China's wind power development,” said Yota Murotani, a journalist of Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, after the visit.

 

He added that exporting the products overseas will help promote global collaboration and jointly develop the wind power industry, which will play a significant role in solving global climate problems.