The world’s highest wind power station is unveiled, and the “hard-core” strength of the major national project demonstrates China’s strength!

Author: Li Chuanfu Shi Xiangqi

On the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the roof of the world, a new engineering miracle is slowly unfolding. The Datang Basu wind turbine, the world's highest-altitude wind power project under construction, has completed all hoisting work, marking the official entry of the first wind power project in Qamdo, Tibet, into the preparation stage for grid-connected power generation.

The Datang Basu Wind Power Project is located in Bangda Town, Basu County, Qamdo City, Tibet Autonomous Region, with an average altitude of 5,050 meters. The highest unit is installed at an altitude of 5,200 meters. This project is the first wind power project in southeastern Tibet. It plans to build 20 5MW wind turbines with a total installed capacity of 100MW. Since the construction started in April this year, after more than 6 months of hard work, the hoisting of all 20 wind turbines was finally completed in early October.

The successful hoisting of the Datang Basu Wind Power Project marks an important milestone in the world's highest altitude wind power project under construction. The project is located in Bangda Town, Basu County, Qamdo City, Tibet Autonomous Region, with an average altitude of 5,050 meters. The tallest wind turbine is installed at an altitude of 5,200 meters, making it the world's highest altitude wind power project under construction.

In terms of technical details, the Basu wind power project uses a 5MW doubly-fed wind turbine generator set, which is the largest single-unit capacity in ultra-high altitude wind power projects. In view of the specific environment of high altitude and cold regions, these units adopt environmental adaptability design, optimize cooling, lubrication, hydraulic and electrical intelligent systems, and ensure stable operation under ultra-high altitude and low pressure conditions.

During the hoisting process, the project team had to deal with extreme weather challenges, including strong winds, hail, snow and rain. Due to the unpredictability of the plateau climate, the construction team had to complete the hoisting work within a limited "window period". In addition, the thin air in the plateau area posed additional challenges to both construction personnel and equipment.

Transportation is also a key challenge in the project, as large wind turbine equipment must travel long distances to reach the construction site. For example, heavy components such as wind turbine blades and nacelles need to be transported from a distant manufacturing plant to the construction site at an altitude of 5,200 meters.

In addition, in order to protect the fragile ecological environment of the plateau, the project adopted strict environmental protection measures during the construction process. For example, the surface soil was protected in the early stage of construction to preserve the ecological vitality of the plateau surface.

The Basu wind power project is expected to be connected to the grid and generate electricity by the end of this month. By then, it will add more than 223 million kilowatt-hours of clean electricity each year, which can meet the annual living electricity needs of about 230,000 people, effectively improve the energy structure of the Tibet Autonomous Region, and provide support for the construction of a national clean energy base in southeastern Tibet.

The construction of Datang Basu Wind Power Project not only demonstrates China's technical strength in high-altitude wind power construction, but also vividly implements the concept of "Green water and green mountains are gold and silver mountains". With the commissioning of this project, the energy structure in Tibet will be further optimized, and it also provides a useful demonstration and exploration for wind power construction in ultra-high altitude areas.