Zhoushan's tidal generator hits 15 months of full operation

The platform that installs the LHD-developed tidal energy generating unit in the southern sea area of Xiushan Island in Daishan county, Zhoushan city, Zhejiang province. [Photo/ zj.zjol.com]

The LHD-developed tidal energy generating unit installed in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province, which was established to supply the electricity grid with green power, hit 15 months of full operation on Aug 25. 

The generator, located in the southern sea area of Xiushan Island in Daishan county, Zhoushan city, was developed by LHD, a company based in Hangzhou, with the backing of the Zhejiang government, who listed it as a key provincial project. 

It has easily beaten the previous world record for such a generator, which operated at less than four months. It also ranks first in the world for its installed capacity of 3.4 megawatts, beating the previous record which was only 1.2 megawatts, making China the third country in the world after the United Kingdom and the United States to have obtained tidal energy generation and grid connection technologies. 

Connected to the national grid two years ago, it started generating power 24 hours a day on May 25, 2017, and has so far generated over 950,000 kilowatt hours of electricity, among which nearly 660,000 kilowatt hours were exported to the national grid.

Unlike the global norm for tidal power that sees motors and turbines together at the sea bottom, which adds pressure to turbines and threatens the stability of the generator, the LHD power generating unit sets turbines underwater while motors are above the water, enhancing the power generating efficiency of the motors.