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Wind superpower: Harvard University and Tsinghua University researchers merged meteorological and wind-turbine modeling to map China’s wind-energy potential. The potential output of 1.5 MW wind turbines is shown as a percentage of maximum output over time.
Michael McElroy, Harvard University
Meyer says the challenge will be as much administrative and financial as technical. He says that a political imperative for rural development guarantees that wind power will remain popular among local and regional officials, but how to finance the "smartening and balancing of the grid needs to be resolved." A surcharge of 0.001-0.002 Chinese yuan per kWh that Chinese consumers pay to support integration of renewable energy barely covers the direct cost of patching wind farms into the grids. "Even for this limited end-use, funds have come back to the local grids with considerable delay," says Meyer.
Then again, says McElroy, China is already aggressively upgrading its power grids to link remote hydropower projects with population centers - a process that could expand to distributing massive generation from notoriously unpredictable wind farms. "China certainly has the know-how to build long-distance high-voltage transmission systems," says McElroy.
The major grid upgrades already under way in China are making extensive use of continental-scale high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) lines, which remain the stuff of supergrid blueprints in Europe and the United States. "They are leading the world in implementing long-distance transmission schemes," says Bjarne Andersen, director of U.K.-based consultancy Andersen Power Electronic Solutions and an expert in the ultra-efficient HVDC technology. Andersen says that China already operates HVDC lines carrying 19,860 MW of power, is building lines for another 18,900 MW, and is planning for 17,900 MW more.
And Andersen says China's power planners are innovating. An 800-kilovolt HVDC link from central Yunnan province to coastal Guangdong, which will be the world's first when it starts up later this year, is expected to lose 30% less energy in transit than today's 500 kV lines. Several more 800 kV lines are under construction.
The current grid upgrades mirror what would be needed to transmit remote wind power. Most new transmission lines are designed to drive power from western hydroelectric dams toward eastern megacities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, says Andersen. But there are signs that grid planners are beginning to take wind development seriously as well. Construction began last year on a 750 kV AC line to carry electricity from a wind farm in western Gansu province that is one of six national wind power megaprojects approved by the government. Gansu's wind farm, dubbed the Three Gorges Dam on Land, is slated to grow to 20,000 MW by 2020, at an estimated cost of 120 billion Chinese yuan ($17.5 billion).
McElroy says China's political situation may also lend itself to adding the required transmission lines. Wind-rich regions such as the ethnically Uyghur northwest are among China's poorest, and the government has an interest in promoting their economic development. McElroy adds that local opposition, which has stymied transmission projects in North America and Europe for years, is unlikely to stop China's wind power surge. "The government probably has more power to institute a plan once it's approved."
A new type of wind-turbine platform can be placed much farther from shore.
Even as a trade dispute puts the countries at odds, some are finding ways to work together.
A huge move to wind power would help limit the biggest environmental problem noticeable to any visitor to a Chinese city - air pollution. The excessive dependence on coal has produced levels of sulphur dioxide that contributes to China's status as having the deadliest air pollution in the world, accounting for an annual death toll that is rising towards one million. http://news.nationalgeographic.co.uk/news/2007/07/070709-china-pollution.html
Ok, so they have huge potential, but more to the point they're willing to take advantage of it and their huge manufacturing base.
So - what the heck is the US waiting for?
Mountain Pass wind farms
The great plains
Offshore wind farms
Micro Turbines mounted on everyone roof top
Just shift all the energy subsidies to mass producing these things, and we can attain a higher degree of energy independence.
SUZLON ENERGY:Growing Wind Energy
Suzlon Energy is a wind power company in India. In terms of market share, the company is the largest wind turbine manufacturer in Asia (and the fifth largest worldwide). In terms of net worth, it is the world's most valuable wind power company. The company itself has manufacturing sites in China, India, Belgium and Germany. It already has a presence in over 40 locations around the world. In 2003, Suzlon got its first sale in USA, with an order from DanMar & Associates to supply 24 turbines in southwestern Minnesota. In June 2007, Suzlon had signed a contract with Edison Mission Energy (EME) of US for delivery of 150 wind turbines of 2.1 MW in 2008 and a similar volume to be delivered in 2009.The company's growth and investments reflects that wind energy is not only gradually growing globally, but is also encroaching in the USA.
Guest (Uber1)
Re: SUZLON ENERGY:Growing Wind Energy
Unfortunately, Suzlon has quality issues with their blades and they still cannot hold a candle to their Chinese counterparts - in the China market, that is.
A big issue for US wind farms is how/where to connect to the grid. Nobody wants those big transmission towers in their sightline. Sine China needs to develop their transmission grid no matter which forms of generation are used, they may have an advantage in getting wind farms connected to the grid. That and the ability of the gov. to acquire land for those lines without fighting property owners and environmental activist will ease the process
The last time I drove through the Cajon pass in California, I was shocked and disappointed that there were no windfarms. the only windmill I saw was a small home model. This pass is near millions of people, and could probably serve a million of them with electricity. That is just one pass of many, but is the biggest. It connects San Bernardino "The Inland Empire" and Apple Valley. Much of the area is also ideal for solar power. We seem to be paralyzed by NIMBY's and lack of leadership.
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mikemtgy
1 Comment
Investment in energy
The chinese seem to still be investing heavily in coal and nuclear technologies. Either they are not convinced that wind is the answer or they are covering their bets - we should do the same.
One other point, these calculations seem to be based on a price floor that the government of China has placed for wind generated energy. That may end up being more of a variable than the wind.
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