The launching ceremony of the "Huaqing" pneumatic wave power generation ship took place at the dock of Minhua Boat Technology Co., Ltd. in Xinhui District, Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province, on January 26 at 11 o'clock. The ship was developed by a team led by Dr. ZHANG Yongliang after nearly 20 years of technical research and tens of thousands of experimental verifications. Dr. ZHANG Yongliang is a professor at Tsinghua University and the Chief Scientist of Ocean Energy at the China Institute of Ocean Engineering. LIU Xiaoli (Vice Dean of the School of Civil Engineering at Tsinghua University), JIN Feng (Director of the Academic Committee of the Department of Hydraulic Engineering), ZHENG Xingang (Vice Dean of the China Institute of Ocean Engineering), ZHOU Peishan (Vice Mayor of Jiangmen City), TAN Shengtong (Vice Chairman of the Political Consultative Conference of Xinhui District, Jiangmen City) and other relevant leaders and guests jointly witnessed this moment.

Dr. ZHANG Yongliang introduced that during the development process of the "Huaqing" pneumatic wave power generation ship, the team invented efficient broadband wave energy capture technology and developed a U-shaped channel air turbine. The team has broken through a series of key technological bottlenecks in the field of wave power generation and achieved efficient, safe and reliable power generation under all sea conditions. All technical achievements and performance indicators are at the world's leading level. The cost of power generation after large-scale development can be close to that of offshore wind power. This will make the commercial development of marine energy resources truly possible. This is also another important progress in the field of clean energy development after photovoltaic and wind power generation.

Dr. LIU Xiaoli stated that Dr. ZHANG Yongliang's team has persistently carried out the research and development of pneumatic wave power generation equipment with the long-term support of relevant departments and the National Key Laboratory of Hydrosphere Science and Hydraulic Engineering. The research team integrates engineering disciplines such as marine science, hydrodynamics, energy and electricity, electrical engineering, automatic control, monitoring and measurement and mechanical manufacturing. The research team has applied for and authorized 18 patents, and formed a core technology system with completely independent intellectual property rights. The team has won many international awards, including the 75th Nuremberg International Invention Gold Award for Invention, the 9th International Best Researcher Award for New Scientific Inventions, and the 6th International Research Award for Functional Materials and Structural Mechanics.

Leaders and experts from Jiangmen Municipal Government, Xinhui District Government, Tsinghua University, and other relevant organizations attended the launching ceremony.

After the launching ceremony, the leaders and experts jointly conducted a round-table interview on the scientific issues and industrialization development of ocean wave energy utilization.