China Cementing Global Dominance of Renewable Energy and Technology

[JSCh]

Desert sunshine provides clean power
By YUAN HUI/ZHENG JINRAN | China Daily | Updated: 2019-02-20 08:38

Workers clean photovoltaic panels in Dalad Banner, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, on Monday. [Photo/CHINA DAILY]

A vast barren desert in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, with its abundant sunshine, has become a base for photovoltaic power generation.

The first phase of the solar power station in the Kubuqi Desert was delivering the equivalent of an annual output of 1 billion kilowatt-hours to the national power grid as of the end of 2018, said Li Rui, director of the development and reform department of Dalad Banner, where the station is based.

Along with its push to improve the power system, it's also a powerful engine to improve the environment, Li said, adding that "the solar energy is expected to reduce annual emissions of carbon dioxide by 200,000 metric tons and dust by 800,000 tons".

Carbon dioxide discharged by coal-fired power plants is a major greenhouse gas, and abundant dust from the desert makes things worse.

Dalad Banner has been promoting environmentally friendly energy generation in the autonomous region, especially after President Xi Jinping highlighted the importance of the modern energy industry at the annual session of the National People's Congress last year.

The president required the autonomous region to modernize its energy industry through upgrades and optimization, and to increase efficiency in energy consumption.

The Kubuqi Desert covers 13,900 square kilometers across three banners, including more than half of Dalad Banner. It has about 200,000 people living around it.

The first project created 1,200 jobs for locals, and solar panels have been installed over more than 33 sq km of the desert, Li said, calling it "a project serving the economy and society".

Photovoltaic panels can also slow the wind, which stops the movement of the desert, a statement from the department said.

Projects utilizing clean power resources, especially solar and wind energy, have developed rapidly in the region, which reflects the authority's strong determination to upgrade the energy structure and pursue green growth, said Chi Dalantai, the banner's Party secretary.

Once the project's three phases are complete, Dalad Banner will be capable of providing 4 billion kWh of power-valued at 1.5 billion yuan ($221 million)-and will reduce emissions of dust and carbon dioxide by 3.9 million tons annually, according to the banner's government.

China has become the largest energy consumer in the world, and coal has been its major resource for decades, though coal has been put under the spotlight in the wake of growing concerns over pollution.

In 2019, China will continue to reduce coal consumption to 58.5 percent of the energy mix, while nonfossil fuels, including wind and solar power, will increase to 14.6 percent, Zhang Jianhua, head of the National Energy Administration, said in December.

 

[JSCh]

China Focus: China builds large power bank with retired NEV batteries
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-07 19:49:48|Editor: zh

NANJING, March 7 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday started construction of the country's first power storage plant recycling retired batteries from new energy vehicles (NEV).

The plant built by the Nanjing Electric Power Company of the State Grid in east China's Jiangsu Province is the largest electrochemistry battery storage power plant of its kind under construction in China.

The plant designed with a storage capacity of 268,600 KWh can provide a daily electricity supply of 500,000 KWh, enough for residential use for 220,000 people per day, said Xiao Jing, Party chief of the Institute of Economic and Technical Research of the Nanjing Electric Power Company.

"The energy storage plant works like a battery charger, storing power during low consumption hours and delivering electricity during peak hours," Xiao said.

The total capacity of retired batteries in this plant is designed to reach 75,000 KWh including 45,000 KWh lithium iron phosphate batteries, 30,000 KWh lead-acid batteries. It will also have a lithium battery storage capacity of 193,600 KWh.

The recycling of retired batteries has become urgent as the batteries from the first generation of electric and hybrid vehicles entered retirement age from 2018, Xiao said. The accumulated amount of retired NEV batteries will reach 170,000 tonnes by 2020 in China.

Xiao explained that although retired batteries can no longer power vehicles, they are still suitable for less-demanding functions such as storing electricity from solar panels and wind turbines, after some repairs and maintenance.

The power storage plant itself is smart energy complex with a rooftop photovoltaic power station and a big data center. It can supply energy by integrating traditional energy power grids and ubiquitous new energy power with smart devices, and provide mobile energy storage with equipment in form of a standardized container each installed with 15,000 KW of power, which can be conveniently transported to cope with emergency for power.

 

[JSCh]

China's first offshore wind power project completed
CGTN
Published on Mar 19, 2019

Construction works on China's first offshore wind power project were completed after the last wind turbine was installed in eastern China's Zhoushan City. Once it becomes fully operational, the wind farm is expected to be able to produce a total capacity of 252 megawatts, which will help reduce the use of standard coal by 270,000 tons and emissions of carbon dioxide by 700,000 tons every year.

 

[JSCh]

Sungrow partners with GRIDSERVE to supply the largest unsubsidized solar-plus-storage project in UK

NEWS PROVIDED BY Sungrow Power Supply Co., Ltd
15 Mar, 2019, 06:00 GMT

YORK, England, March 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Sungrow, the global leading inverter solution supplier for renewables, announced that it is supplying PV inverters and energy storage systems for the United Kingdom's largest unsubsidized solar-plus-storage project, comprising of a 34.7 MW PV park including a 27 MW/30MWh energy storage system.

This hybrid project has been developed and is being built by GRIDSERVE on 198 acres of low-grade agricultural land in Yorkshire, and is expected to be operational in October 2019. After completion, Warrington Borough Council will purchase the plant, demonstrating that solar and storage combined can deliver unsubsidized green and clean electricity to communities.

The Sungrow equipment supplied includes 1500 Volt turnkey inverter stations, SG3125HV-MV. Along with the PV project, a 27MW/30MWh storage system is based on the Sungrow standard '2.5 MW-1 Hour ESS system', designed for utility-scale applications. With its compact design and resilient performance, the storage segment will maximize yield from the solar PV system through peak shifting. Furthermore, the flexibility of the storage system enables the provision of a range of grid services such as frequency response, grid balancing and reserve capacity which enhances the overall solar-plus-storage project benefits.

"We are very proud to partner up with GRIDSERVE on these two milestone projects supplying our world-class solar PV and energy storage solutions. We will keep pursuing technical innovations to provide higher yields and offer state-of-the-art product portfolios together with establishing ourselves as the best service platform in the sector", said Lewis Li, General Manager of Sungrow UK.

"We value Sungrow's proven 22-year track record in the PV industry. The company has already demonstrated its commitment to the UK market by continuing to grow its presence here. Furthermore, the flexibility and professionalism Sungrow have shown is paramount to support our business in this venture. We look forward to collaborating on more projects in the future", said Mr. Toddington Harper, CEO of GRIDSERVE.

Meanwhile, another 25.7 MW project again by GRIDSERVE, applied with Sungrow solutions, is to be built in Hull soon after, which will offer excellent value for consumers whilst providing clean renewable energy for years to come.

Since opening its Milton Keynes branch in 2014, Sungrow has realized significant traction in the United Kingdom with projects exceeding 1 GW of volume and tens of energy storage applications.


https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-r...lar-plus-storage-project-in-uk-843775478.html

 

[JSCh]

China's renewable energy company completes construction of 3 plants in Egypt
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 21:28:57|Editor: Yang Yi

A man works in a TBEA solar power station in Egypt's southern province of Aswan, March 18, 2019. China's renewable energy company TBEA Sunoasis has finished the construction of three solar power stations at the Benban Solar Energy Park in Egypt's southern province of Aswan, a TBEA official said. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

ASWAN, Egypt, March 21 (Xinhua) -- China's renewable energy company TBEA Sunoasis has finished the construction of three solar power stations at the Benban Solar Energy Park in Egypt's southern province of Aswan, a TBEA official said.

The stations, with an output of 186 megawatts, are part of the giant Benban Solar Plant, Gu Huchen, director of Engineering Management Department of TBEA's New Energy International Engineering Division, told Xinhua.

"The project consists of three sub-projects, each with a capacity of approximately 62 megawatts," Gu said, adding that about 600,000 components were used in the projects.

The projects, which TBEA started to build a year ago, are owned by Spanish renewable energy project developer Acciona and Saudi investment firm Swicorp, with an investment of around 180 million U.S. dollars.

The three projects are financially backed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

Two of the projects have started to sell power to local utility under a 25-year feed-in tariff contract, Rawy Komar, an engineer with Acciona told Xinhua.

"The third will reach full capacity with grid connection in about one week," he added.

The Benban Solar Plant, which is expected to be fully completed in mid-2019, aims to generate around 2 gigawatts of utility-scale solar capacity through a total of 40 stations.

The park, about 650 km south of Cairo, is financed by a number of global funding agencies and banks, including the AIIB and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

The solar plant, which occupies an area of 37 square km, will help Egypt increase its use of renewable energy to 22 percent of all domestic energy use by 2020.

The project is estimated to help to reduce global greenhouse gas emission through cutting more than half a million tons of carbon dioxide annually.

Talking about the construction period, Gu said that "at the peak, there were about 1,500 Egyptians on the scene. Around 1,300 are from Aswan, while the rest of them are from Luxor and Alexandria."

"According to our vague calculations, we have provided at least 5,000 jobs to the local area throughout the construction process," Gu added.

TBEA Sunoasis is a major global green and smart energy service provider with business in more than 20 countries. It is devoted to achieving sustainable development of human society with the use of smart, efficient and green energy.

 

[JSCh]

MARCH 18, 2019
Stanford researchers create hydrogen fuel from seawater
Splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen presents an alternative to fossil fuels, but purified water is a precious resource. A Stanford-led team has now developed a way to harness seawater – Earth’s most abundant source – for chemical energy.

BY ERIN I. GARCIA DE JESUS

Stanford researchers have devised a way to generate hydrogen fuel using solar power, electrodes and saltwater from San Francisco Bay.

​

Hongjie Dai and his research lab at Stanford University have developed a prototype that can generate hydrogen fuel from seawater. (Image credit: Courtesy of H. Dai, Yun Kuang, Michael Kenney)

The findings, published March 18 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrate a new way of separating hydrogen and oxygen gas from seawater via electricity. Existing water-splitting methods rely on highly purified water, which is a precious resource and costly to produce.

Theoretically, to power cities and cars, “you need so much hydrogen it is not conceivable to use purified water,” said Hongjie Dai, J.G. Jackson and C.J. Wood professor in chemistry in Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences and co-senior author on the paper. “We barely have enough water for our current needs in California.”

Hydrogen is an appealing option for fuel because it doesn’t emit carbon dioxide, Dai said. Burning hydrogen produces only water and should ease worsening climate change problems.

Dai said his lab showed proof-of-concept with a demo, but the researchers will leave it up to manufacturers to scale and mass produce the design.

Tackling corrosion
As a concept, splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen with electricity – called electrolysis – is a simple and old idea: a power source connects to two electrodes placed in water. When power turns on, hydrogen gas bubbles out of the negative end – called the cathode – and breathable oxygen emerges at the positive end – the anode.

But negatively charged chloride in seawater salt can corrode the positive end, limiting the system’s lifespan. Dai and his team wanted to find a way to stop those seawater components from breaking down the submerged anodes.

The researchers discovered that if they coated the anode with layers that were rich in negative charges, the layers repelled chloride and slowed down the decay of the underlying metal.

They layered nickel-iron hydroxide on top of nickel sulfide, which covers a nickel foam core. The nickel foam acts as a conductor – transporting electricity from the power source – and the nickel-iron hydroxide sparks the electrolysis, separating water into oxygen and hydrogen. During electrolysis, the nickel sulfide evolves into a negatively charged layer that protects the anode. Just as the negative ends of two magnets push against one another, the negatively charged layer repels chloride and prevents it from reaching the core metal.

Without the negatively charged coating, the anode only works for around 12 hours in seawater, according to Michael Kenney, a graduate student in the Dai lab and co-lead author on the paper. “The whole electrode falls apart into a crumble,” Kenney said. “But with this layer, it is able to go more than a thousand hours.”

Previous studies attempting to split seawater for hydrogen fuel had run low amounts of electric current, because corrosion occurs at higher currents. But Dai, Kenney and their colleagues were able to conduct up to 10 times more electricity through their multi-layer device, which helps it generate hydrogen from seawater at a faster rate.

“I think we set a record on the current to split seawater,” Dai said.

The team members conducted most of their tests in controlled laboratory conditions, where they could regulate the amount of electricity entering the system. But they also designed a solar-powered demonstration machine that produced hydrogen and oxygen gas from seawater collected from San Francisco Bay.

And without the risk of corrosion from salts, the device matched current technologies that use purified water. “The impressive thing about this study was that we were able to operate at electrical currents that are the same as what is used in industry today,” Kenney said.

Surprisingly simple
Looking back, Dai and Kenney can see the simplicity of their design. “If we had a crystal ball three years ago, it would have been done in a month,” Dai said. But now that the basic recipe is figured out for electrolysis with seawater, the new method will open doors for increasing the availability of hydrogen fuel powered by solar or wind energy.

In the future, the technology could be used for purposes beyond generating energy. Since the process also produces breathable oxygen, divers or submarines could bring devices into the ocean and generate oxygen down below without having to surface for air.

In terms of transferring the technology, “one could just use these elements in existing electrolyzer systems and that could be pretty quick,” Dai said. “It’s not like starting from zero – it’s more like starting from 80 or 90 percent.”

Other co-lead authors include visiting scientist Yun Kuang from Beijing University of Chemical Technology and Yongtao Meng of Shandong University of Science and Technology. Additional authors include Wei-Hsuan Hung, Yijin Liu, Jianan Erick Huang, Rohit Prasanna and Michael McGehee.

This work was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, National Science Foundation of China and the National Key Research and Development Project of China.



A new way to generate hydrogen fuel from seawater | Stanford News

 

[JSCh]

China Starts Pouring Concrete at World's Tallest Dam
YICAI GLOBAL
DATE : MAR 26 2019/SOURCE : YICAI

China Starts Pouring Concrete at World's Tallest Dam​

(Yicai Global) March 26 -- Power Construction Corp. of China has begun pouring concrete at the Shuangjiangkou Hydropower Station in southwestern China, which is set to become the world's tallest dam upon completion in 2024.

The facility, at the basin of the Dadu River in Sichuan province, will be 315 meters high and have an installed capacity of two gigawatts when finished, China National Radio reported online. The first concrete pouring process filled around 400 cubic meters and took eight hours.

The station's whole construction process is information and intelligence-based and tracked by a visual monitoring system, said Hua Zhengchao, project manager. Fully automated rolling and filling, unmanned driving and laser-scanning technologies have all been used so far in the cofferdam filling, quality inspections and topographic surveys, he added.

Once complete, the hydropower project will have an adjustable reservoir capacity of 1.9 billion cubic meters, allowing it to save about 3 million tons of coal per year and reduce carbon emissions by 7.2 million tons while improving flood control capabilities of cities in the Dadu River's downstream sections.

 

[JSCh]

Construction of 2.24-GW hydropower station underway in upper Yangtze
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-31 13:53:29|Editor: ZX

LHASA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Construction started Saturday on the main structure of a 2.24-GW hydropower station on the Jinsha River, the upper section of the Yangtze River.

A cofferdam was built upstream of the construction site on Saturday in preparation for further building work.

The Yebatan Hydropower Station is located at the junction of Baiyu County in southwest China's Sichuan Province and Konjo County in Tibet Autonomous Region.

It will be the largest hydropower station on the upper reaches of the Jinsha River upon completion.

With a total installed capacity of 2.24 GW, the power station will be able to generate about 10.2 billion kWh of electricity per year.

The project is undertaken by China Huadian Corp., with a total investment of about 33.4 billion yuan (about 5 billion U.S. dollars).

Wei Yongxin, of Huadian Jinsha River Upstream Hydropower Development Co. Ltd., said the project was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission in 2016, and the power station's first generating unit is expected to start operation in 2025.

Wei added that the project had contributed to local infrastructure building and poverty alleviation.

About 240 km of roads were built by Huadian in the area around the power station. The company also upgraded an 84.5-km road linking Baiyu County and Batang County in Sichuan, cutting the travel time from over five hours to two hours for local residents.

"I earn more than 200 yuan each day working at the construction site, which is better than herding and farming," said Jampa, a Tibetan herder from Konjo County who works for the project. "More importantly, I have the chance to learn some techniques."

The power station is expected to replace 3.99 million tonnes of coal and reduce 7.37 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year after it is put into operation, said Jia Zhongqi, another Huadian official.

To protect the fragile ecosystem along the upper reaches of the Jinsha River, more than 1.5 billion yuan will be invested in environmental protection projects such as fish ladders and fish breeding stations during the construction of the power station, Jia added.

A thorough environmental impact assessment of the power station was conducted before construction started.

A total of 13 hydropower stations have been planned on the upper reaches of the Jinsha River, Wei said. The first such station, Suwalong Hydropower Station, has a designed capacity of 1.2 GW, and its first generating unit is expected to start operation in 2020.

 

[JSCh]

China's Kaishan Compressor Wins USD65 Million EPC Contract at Kenyan Geothermal Plant
LIAO SHUMIN
DATE : APR 08 2019/SOURCE : YICAI

China's Kaishan Compressor Wins USD65 Million EPC Contract at Kenyan Geothermal Plant​

(Yicai Global) April 8 -- Zhejiang Kaishan Compressor, a Chinese mechanical equipment maker, has landed a USD65 million engineering, procurement and construction contract to build a geothermal power plant in Kenya as it expands into a new energy industry.

Kaishan Renewable Energy Development penned the deal for the 35 megawatt facility with Sosian Menengai Geothermal Power, its parent said in a statement today. SMGPL is building the facility in the Mennonay volcanic geothermal block in Nakuru, Kenya, and has an agreement in place to sell the electricity generated there to Kenya National Power. It already has a license to generate power from the Kenyan government.

After 40 years in the air compressor industry, Kaishan Compressor is committed to shifting to the green energy business, according to its website. Screw expanders made by the firm are widely used in geothermal, photo thermal and biomass power generation.

Its subsidiary also penned a 14-year operation and maintenance deal worth USD18 million for the plant. The unit and SMGPL will adjust annual costs based on local price indexes.

 

[JSCh]

Chinese solar company to develop thin film solar projects
CGTN
Published on Apr 12, 2019

Chinese solar company Hanergy Mobile Energy Holding Group Limited signed a cooperative agreement to develop thin-film solar projects. Hanergy signed the agreement with the Administration Committee for Development and Construction of Lingang Area and the Lingang Group.Thin-film solar energy, as a renewable energy source, has been hailed as an important force in transforming solar technology. Compared with traditional crystalline silicon solar cells, thin-film solar cells are lighter and more flexible in converting sunlight into electricity.

 

[JSCh]

Thursday, July 19, 2018, 10:34
Hydropower plant shows off domestic expertise
By Zheng Xin

This photo taken on July 11, 2018, shows the construction site of the Baihetan hydropower station, the world's second-largest hydropower project, which is located on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

The world's second-largest hydropower project using China's domestically made equipment will help the country export its construction and equipment know-how around the world, analysts said.

The Baihetan hydropower station is located on the Jinsha River, on the upper section of the Yangtze River straddling Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. It will use 16 turbines made by Chinese companies, each with a capacity of 1 gigawatts, according to Tu Yangwen, an official with China Three Gorges Corp, the project's contractor.

China's wide-ranging know-how and experience when it comes to the construction of hydroelectric plants is second to none given the nation had already installed 313 gW by the end of 2017

Joseph Jacobelli, Senior analyst of Asian utilities, Bloomberg​

The Baihetan hydropower plant is expected to enter operation by 2021, and will be second only to the Three Gorges Dam in terms of total installed capacity, according to China Three Gorges Corp.

Baihetan is expected to generate more than 60 terawatt hours of electricity per year, around two-thirds of Beijing's consumption in 2015. Thermal power generating capacity of more than 62 tWh and 19.68 million metric tons of coal will be replaced every year after the hydropower station starts operation.

"The country is also self-sufficient when it comes to the equipment for such plants thanks to its deep understanding of hydro plants, and it has already been successfully exporting its construction and equipment know-how abroad in recent years too, such as in sub-Saharan Africa."

"China's wide-ranging know-how and experience when it comes to the construction of hydroelectric plants is second to none given the nation had already installed 313 gW by the end of 2017," said Joseph Jacobelli, a senior analyst of Asian utilities at Bloomberg.

Chinese companies' cost control abilities will also provide the country with an advantage in exploring clean energy markets abroad, as Chinese clean energy companies continue to expand their presence overseas, he added.

READ MORE: A big market for clean energy firms

Domestic turbines are as good as those from overseas companies, according to China Three Gorges Corp. The company added the country's hydropower equipment has made great strides in recent years and become a strong competitor in the international market.

The Baihetan hydropower station, a major west-to-east electricity transmission project in China's resource-rich western region, will meet the power demand in Yunnan and Sichuan, while supplying power to the East China Power Grid, Central China Power Grid and China Southern Power Grid.

Wang Hao, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said Baihetan dam's operation will substantially boost the share of hydropower in China's energy mix, as the country is rich in hydropower resources.

The Baihetan project will be an important direction for China's energy consumption in the future, as the country currently still relies on fossil energy, Wang said.

China has vowed to raise its installed capacity for hydropower to 380 gW by 2020, as it is a cheaper and cleaner alternative to coal, as part of efforts to phase out polluting fossil fuels.

Baihetan Dam 2013-2018白鹤滩水电站建设历程
Chinese bridge
Published on Apr 9, 2019

Baihetan Dam is the largest arch dam in the world with 16GW capacity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baiheta... first 1GW water turbine will finished in July 1, 2021. from the video 01:57 and 03:48 can see 211m high suspension bridge Jinshajiang Bridge Hulukou: http://www.highestbridges.com/wiki/in... 03:37 can see 92m high beam bridge Aizigou Bridge: http://www.highestbridges.com/wiki/in... 白鹤滩水电站是世界最大的高坝水电站，总装机1600万千瓦。首台100万千瓦水轮机组将于2021年7月1日投产发电： https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E7%99%B...

 

[JSCh]

Chinese, Ukrainian firms open major solar plant in Ukraine
Source:Xinhua Published: 2019/4/20 10:21:22

A worker walks past the CGN 50MW Solar Thermal Power project in Delingha City, northwest China's Qinghai Province, Sept. 23, 2017. (Photo: Xinhua)

China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) and Ukraine's largest private energy holding Donbas Fuel and Energy Company (DTEK) on Friday inaugurated a major solar power plant in Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region.

The solar plant, jointly built by CMEC and DTEK near a town of Nikopol, became the largest solar station in Ukraine and one of the three biggest solar farms in Europe.

While addressing the solemn ceremony to open the plant, Maksym Timchenko, chairman of the DTEK, said the project will push forward the cooperation between China and Ukraine.

"I believe that this is a new page of the Ukrainian-Chinese relations. I believe that only with such projects, with real deeds, can we talk about real cooperation and real partnership," Timchenko said.

Meanwhile, CMEC President Han Xiaojun said the project to build the plant is an example of win-win cooperation between companies from China and Ukraine.

"Nikopol plant is based on advanced solar modules and inverters made in China, as well as on advanced power plant control systems. At the same time, this facility benefits the Ukrainian people and supports Ukraine's industry," Han said.

The construction of the solar power plant started in 2018 and the station was put into operation in February this year. More than 1,500 experts from China and Ukraine participated in building the plant.

The 400-hectare solar farm consists of 750,000 photovoltaic (PV) solar panels produced by Chinese companies Seraphim Solar System and Trina Solar.

Besides, the plant incorporates 80 inverter stations with 160 PV inverters manufactured by the China-based Shenzhen Kstar Science and Technology.

The solar plant with a total capacity of 200 megawatts of power is capable of providing electricity to 140,000 households.

The cost of the plant is 216 million euro (about 242.9 million U.S. dollars). The project was funded by the DTEK's own funds and by a loan from China.

The plant is expected to play an important role in improving the ecological situation in the region as it will reduce harmful CO2 emissions by about 300,000 tons annually.

 

[JSCh]

Now, green electricity spurs clean development
By Zheng Xin | China Daily | Updated: 2019-04-22 09:21

A wind turbine system generates energy in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. [Photo/Xinhua]

If you were walking or driving along the coast of East China's provinces such as Jiangsu, Fujian and Guangdong, you'll likely notice rows of white turbines offshore.

These are wind farms, a scene straight out of Europe, the leader in offshore wind energy. Only, they bear testimony to the rapid technological development of offshore wind-based energy in China.

As waves lap at the seemingly floating towers, electricity is generated by harnessing powerful winds that rotate the giant blades of these fans installed on sea.

With 11 coastal provinces, China has abundant offshore resources: a coastline of 18,000 km, and more than 3 million square km of sea area.

Factors like falling production costs brought about by the technological improvements in the past 10 years, are encouraging the construction of offshore wind farms.

In the not too distant future, the cost of building offshore wind farms will likely match that of their onshore counterparts.

There are other factors to consider here. Consumption of electricity has always limited the development of clean energy in the country.

For example, the development of onshore wind farms, which are usually constructed far from the power consumption cluster in the east, has been slow in the past few years as the segment matured.

The installed capacity of onshore wind farms in 2017 reached a five-year low of 1,160 MW, according to the Chinese Wind Energy Association.

Given offshore wind farms' proximity to coastal city load centers in China, their steady development could mean they could potentially contribute more than half of the clean energy consumed in China in the future.

The offshore segment offers an opportunity to the coastal regions to further reduce their over-reliance on imported coal-fired electricity that not only causes emissions but is expensive and inflexible.

In addition, the offshore wind farms, unlike their onshore counterparts, do not require land resources, while their utilization hours are 20 percent to 70 percent higher.

Small wonder, China is witnessing cutting-edge R&D of offshore wind turbines. Domestic firms such as Goldwind and Dongfang Electric already have capabilities to produce high-capacity machine units that adapt to the country's complex coastal marine environment and don't rely on imports anymore.

They have laid a solid foundation for the commercial development of the country's offshore wind power sector.

Economy of scale now marks the renewable energy sector. Many provinces have laid out a blueprint for the offshore wind power development for the next few years.

For instance, Jiangsu province has approved 24 offshore wind power projects with a total capacity of 6.7 GW. China aims to build seven large-scale wind power generation bases in Gansu, Xinjiang, Hebei, Jilin, Inner Mongolia and Jiangsu in 2020, to boost clean energy consumption.

Experts think the government may plan for the needed grid-connection arrangements to keep pace with the acceleration in the offshore wind sector's development.

What may spur good news next is that turbine costs are continuously falling. The country is gradually catching up in the fields of oceanographic engineering, long distance power transmission and facility maintenance.

It is highly likely that the turbines might continue spinning offshore without feeding off any government subsidies. Such a scenario would help countries to move to a more reliable, cheaper and cleaner energy economy.

 

[JSCh]

China biomass power generation increases 16.7 pct in Q1
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-04 14:29:26|Editor: ZX

BEIJING, May 4 (Xinhua) -- China's biomass sector generated 24.5 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity during the first quarter of 2019, up 16.7 percent year on year, data from the National Energy Administration showed.

China added 970,000 kilowatts of biomass energy capacity during the first quarter, bringing the total installed capacity to 18.78 million kilowatts.

Biomass refers to biological materials or organic materials which are renewable and sustainable and could be used as a fuel source.

China has striven to develop renewable energy including wind power and biomass energy in recent years as the world's largest energy market continues to shift away from dirty coal power toward cleaner fuels.

While the energy share of biomass remains relatively low compared to other sources of renewable energy, China plans to increase annual biomass power generation to 90 billion kWh by 2020.

 

[Pakistan Space Agency]

China's solar power capacity by end March 2019 reached 180 GW. Truly amazing.

https://asian-power.com/power-utility/news/china-installed-52gw-solar-power-capacity-in-q1

https://news.metal.com/newscontent/100903511/China-installs-52GW-of-solar-power-capacity-in-Q1/

Total electricity capacity of China now stands at 740 GW.