The most powerful autumn storm to have hit China since 1949 made landfall on 6 September.
Super Typhoon Yagi caused four deaths and 95 injuries. More than 720,000 had to relocate in Guangdong province, and half a million people were affected in Hainan province.
Five or six huge turbines were also severely damaged at a wind farm in coastal Hainan, according to its operator.
Landing just a few kilometres from the wind farm, Yagi reached over 83 metres per second (300 km per hour), far exceeding requirements for the typhoon resistance of wind turbines, an industry insider told media.
Qin Haiyan, secretary general of China Renewable Energy Society’s Wind Energy Committee, explained that the turbines were not yet operational “so their anti-typhoon features could not be activated.”
Energy Observer reported that the damaged turbines were part of a capacity-expansion project. The plan, intended for completion in October, involved dismantling the original 32 smaller turbines and replacing them with 16 turbines, each with a capacity of 6.25 megawatts and worth nearly 10 million yuan (1.37 million USD).
“To boost capacity, many companies have been extending wind turbine blades and increasing tower heights without upgrading other components, which has compromised safety. Additionally, many existing technical standards were originally developed for smaller turbines, raising concerns about whether they are applicable to larger turbines,” reported Energy Observer.
Caixin highlighted that China’s wind power industry has been grappling with intense price competition in recent years and the race to lower costs often comes at the expense of quality.
Read Dialogue Earth’s earlier analysis of China’s need for a climate adaptation strategy.