In Zhegu Town, Cuomei County, Shannan City, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, there is good news from the Tibet Cuomei Zhegu Wind Farm located at the northern foothills of the Himalayas. On October 4, 2023, the second phase of the wind farm project successfully connected 15 wind turbines with a single unit capacity of over 3 megawatts to the grid for power generation. Some of these wind turbines are currently the 3.6 megawatt wind turbines with the largest single unit capacity that have been put into operation in ultra-high altitude areas of China.

The wind turbines of this wind farm are set up between 5000 and 5200 meters above sea level, with a total installed capacity of 72.6 megawatts and a total of 25 wind turbines installed. The first phase of the wind farm project has fully connected 10 units to the grid in December 2021, becoming the first ultra-high altitude wind power development technology research and demonstration project in Tibet Autonomous Region, and also the first wind power project to be integrated into the main power grid of Tibet. On August 3rd of this year, the first batch of 5 wind turbines with a single unit capacity of 3.6 megawatts in the second phase of the project were successfully connected to the grid for power generation. After the second phase of the project is fully put into operation, the annual power generation of the wind farm will exceed 200 million kilowatt hours, which is enough to meet the annual electricity consumption of nearly 140000 households in the surrounding area.

It is understood that the Cuomezhegu Wind Farm in Tibet is the highest altitude wind power project in China. In this project, China Water Resources and Electric Power Corporation, a subsidiary of China Three Gorges Group, undertook the construction and operation tasks of the project. The company has overcome a series of difficulties such as high altitude, low pressure, low temperature, strong winds, and inconvenient transportation, and successfully completed the construction and operation of this project.

The grid connected power generation of the second phase project marks a new breakthrough in China's wind power development technology in high-altitude areas. This will provide valuable experience and reference for China's wind power development in plateau areas, and make positive contributions to local economic development and environmental protection. Editor/Yang Yang