On the waters of Laizhou Bay, 50 wind turbines feed green electricity into the onshore grid; beneath the surface, a marine ranch unfolds in parallel, as another kind of "harvest" takes shape in the same stretch of sea. Above the waves the turbines chase the wind, below them the ranch grows — this "green power plant" and "blue granary" have been intertwined since the very start of construction. On October 17, the Changyi City Marine Ranch and Three Gorges 300MW Offshore Wind Integration Pilot Demonstration Project (hereafter the "Changyi Project") was awarded the 2024–2026 National Quality Engineering Award. As the first "offshore wind + marine ranch" integration project of the Three Gorges Group and one of Shandong Province's first batch of grid-parity offshore wind pilots, this symbiosis of a "green power plant" and a "blue granary" is writing a new possibility in Laizhou Bay.
From setting high standards to building a fine project
For the National Quality Engineering Award, behind the honor lies an "exam paper" stretching from survey and design all the way to the acceptance site, which the builders answered question by question within each work procedure. Construction standards were strictly implemented item by item, quality and safety red lines were guarded throughout, and no general or above quality or safety accidents occurred during construction. All 53 unit works passed acceptance on the first attempt, achieving a 100% pass rate; the project passed the production-commissioning acceptance with high quality and was rated an excellent project of high quality grade. Foundation pile integrity testing fully complied with specifications, with Category I piles accounting for 100%, and the project smoothly passed the special evaluation of foundation and main structure works. The confidence in quality comes from the "hard support" of technological innovation. The Changyi Project deeply integrated advanced industry technologies, applying 6 major categories and 13 sub-items of the 10 new technologies in the construction industry and 12 of the five new technologies in power construction, forming 6 independently innovated technologies, and passing the special evaluation for the application of new power construction technologies. Innovation results also moved from the laboratory to the site: the project has accumulated 5 provincial and ministerial-level science and technology progress awards, 4 invention patents, 20 utility model patents, 3 construction methods, and 6 software copyrights, and participated in the compilation of 3 standards, gradually building a diversified system of offshore wind technology innovation. Solid engineering quality is a "mandatory question" on the national quality exam paper. But for this project, there was also a distinctive question: how can the turbines above the sea coexist with the ranch beneath it?
From installing equipment to cultivating ecology
Unlike traditional offshore wind projects with a single energy development positioning, the Changyi Project set offshore wind and a marine ranch as its two core construction segments from the very beginning of planning, with integrated design and simultaneous construction. "Offshore wind is not simply about 'installing equipment' in the sea, but about using the construction opportunity to 'add value' to the marine ecology and achieve a win-win of development and protection," said Cao Jinchao, head of Three Gorges New Energy Shandong Changyi Power Generation Co., Ltd. The Changyi Project built a marine ranch in the confirmed sea area within 50 meters around the wind turbine foundations, releasing a total of 16,000 cubic meters of artificial reefs — equivalent to building two "natural breeding zones" the size of standard football fields on the seabed. It also built China's first offshore wind ecological environment observation station, with more than ten water quality and ecological indicators connected in real time to the big data platform of the Shandong Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment; the fishery resource biomass in the reef area increased by more than 118% compared with control areas without reefs. In this sea area, wind power and the ranch are not a simple overlay, but a two-way symbiotic cycle: the turbine foundations weaken wind waves and slow currents, providing a stable habitat for marine life; the attachment and growth of marine organisms can reduce the corrosion rate of seawater on steel structures; and the artificial reefs slow the scouring of the seabed near the foundations by currents. Beyond the data, there is more direct testimony. During a boat inspection, maintenance worker Li Jiakai encountered an East Asian finless porpoise surfacing its back from the sea. He still cannot hide his surprise: "Seeing small fish and shrimp on the monitors is normal, but meeting a porpoise face to face at sea was a first." Porpoises are highly sensitive to water quality and the food chain, and their appearance confirms from one angle the continued improvement of the sea area's ecology. The three-dimensional development model of "power generation on the upper layer, conservation in the middle layer, and restoration on the bottom layer" makes the waters above Laizhou Bay a "green power plant" and the waters below a "blue granary." Yet for this symbiosis to run long term, safety is the bottom line and operations and maintenance must keep pace.
From running to the site to digital-intelligent control
At the Changyi Project, safety is not a slogan on the wall but a digital nervous system online around the clock. When maintenance worker Zhang Zhuangzhuang climbs the tower, scales the structure, enters the nacelle, and bends down to check the operating status of the unit's core components, tens of kilometers away in the onshore central control room, duty officer Liu Jiawei is staring at the electronic big screen — the rotational speed, fire protection status, and submarine cable temperature of the 50 turbines refresh in real time, and the operation footage inside the nacelle is transmitted back simultaneously. "We take full-process refined control as the core and create a smart operations and maintenance model with few personnel on duty," introduced Wang Huitang, deputy general manager of the Changyi project department of Three Gorges New Energy Jiangsu Operations and Maintenance Company. Relying on big data, the project optimizes inspection routes and reduces equipment energy consumption, achieving a 30% savings in the energy consumption of operations and maintenance vessels; through multiple intelligent monitoring and security systems such as central turbine monitoring, drone inspection, foundation structure safety detection, and smart fire protection, it firmly holds the bottom line of offshore operations and maintenance safety. Among them, the smart fire protection system is equivalent to installing an "automatic emergency brake" on each turbine: once a fire alarm is triggered, the system automatically shuts down and stops the cooling fans, cutting off the convection conditions that feed the fire. This upgrade also made the Changyi Project the first offshore wind farm in the Three Gorges Group and among the first batch in Shandong to achieve deep linkage between fire protection and main control. "In the future, we will continue to leverage the advantages of a central state-owned enterprise in technology, management, and funding, keep exploring new paths for the coordinated development of new energy and marine ecology, and contribute Three Gorges strength to safeguarding national energy security and building a maritime power," said Wang Yuwei, director of the offshore wind affairs department of Three Gorges New Energy. The sea breeze never stops, and the cultivation never ceases. Today, the Changyi Project generates about 940 million kilowatt-hours annually, enough to meet the full-year electricity demand of 400,000 households, saving about 290,000 tons of standard coal and reducing about 790,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year; beneath the surface, fishery resources in the reef area grow steadily, and the results of ecological restoration continue to emerge. The turbines keep turning, the fish keep growing, and this symbiosis keeps on growing.
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