Offshore giant: This winter, Chinese wind turbine leader Sinovel installed 34 of these three-megawatt turbines near Shanghai, creating China's first offshore wind farm.
Sinovel.
Breezy tidal flats offer green power on the doorstep of China's bustling seaboard.
China's first offshore wind farm, a 102-megawatt array that's set to come to full power this month in the Yangtze River delta near Shanghai, looks to be the start of something big. Chinese officials announced plans last month to request bids for three to four large-scale offshore wind power projects generating up to 1,000 megawatts total. Beijing-based energy consultancy Azure International predicts that China will install 514 megawatts of offshore wind over the next three to four years, and by 2020 will have invested $100 billion to install up to 30,000 megawatts. That's equal to all of the onshore wind farms currently installed in China, already the world's largest market for wind power.
China's offshore winds are slower than Europe's because they cross Asia before striking out to sea, whereas the North Sea's winds travel an unimpeded transatlantic path. But 40 percent of China's population lives along the eastern seaboard. China is building a transmission supergrid to bring in hydroelectric, coal, and wind power from western China, but Meyer says leaders of coastal provinces see offshore development as a means of local investment. "China still has a very locally protectionist economy. There's an interest from provincial governments to support the coastal economy and jobs by supporting a wind industry in their backyard," says Sebastian Meyer, Azure's research director.
The Chinese offshore wind situation is analogous to that in the United States, where eastern states advocate offshore wind over construction of an interstate supergrid delivering western wind power. For example, last week, Cape Wind, which has proposed a wind farm off Nantucket, announced it had ordered 130 turbines. The difference is that China's first offshore wind farm, installed by top Chinese turbine producer Sinovel, is about to start generating electricity, whereas Cape Wind has been waiting for its federal permit since it gained state and local permits in 2008. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has promised a decision on Cape Wind by the end of this month. China's National Energy Administration and National Oceanic Administration issued joint regulations for offshore wind farm development in January in a bid to accelerate the industry.
Li Junfeng, deputy director of China's Energy Research Institute in Beijing, indicated in a presentation to an offshore wind seminar in Norway last month that near-term development would focus on the 100 to 200 gigawatts of wind energy potential available in extensive tidal flats. She highlighted Jiangsu Province, north of Shanghai, which has eight to 10 gigawatts of intertidal wind power potential. Jiangsu is the only coastal site among six regional wind power development centers designated by Beijing last year. Each site is slated to receive at least 10 gigawatts of installation by 2020.
Jiangsu's first offshore pilot-scale farms are under construction: a 30-megawatt project by Longyuan Group and a six-megawatt project developed by Hebei-based China Three Gorges Project. In February, Beijing-based Shenhua Guohua Energy Investment, a subsidiary of China's largest coal producer, announced it was considering two 300-megawatt offshore projects in Jiangsu that would use 3.6-megawatt turbines under development by Shanghai Electric Wind.
A key technical challenge is engineering for the tidal flat's muddy seafloors and shifting sandbars, which require different foundations and installation vessels than those developed for the North Sea. Guohua, for example, is developing a novel steel pile foundation for its Jiangsu wind farms. Rather than the single steel monopoles common for North Sea projects, Guohua's will employ five piles, each 56 meters long.
The engineering giant likes the predictability of marine power—which can be "calculated for centuries in advance."
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.
is awful. At least the stuff they export. For example, I once broke a pair of Chinese-made pliers with my bare hands just by squeezing too hard. And I'm not even strong! So, I doubt the Chinese will be able to make these devices sturdy enough to do the job, long term. Good luck to them, though! [Now my rating will plummet as millions of Chinese log on to give me one star. :-D ]
Can you tell me why you did not buy American in the first place? Was it cost?
I recently purchased American wrenches from a Grainger catalog. I love it. I will buy American again. I did not mind the small extra cost.
As a matter of fact I am a little concerned that the American consumer and corporations are the culprits of out sourcing in the first place.
We can manufacture much more in the US by a higher degree of automation which also builds in higher quality.
It is a global economy and the fittest will survive in any given industry. But it is in our hands to support local industry.
Re: Chinese steel ...and American stupidity.
Dear "dmm",
Just because you experienced some junk Chinese products, you also jump to conclusion that everything Chinese, including these wind turbines, will fail...
Isn't this a stupid generalization?
Haven't you experienced junk American products or service? Did you also come to the (false) conclusion that all American technological projects are doomed to failure, because some consumer trinket didn't work out for you?
Surely, the Mandarin peasants will screw up lots and lots of things. Many of these wind turbines will fail, that is a certainty.
Just don't forget that America has its own large population of retards, losers and corporate criminals, as well. To refresh your memory, just 3 years ago a major bridge in Minneapolis collapsed killing and injuring many people. How is that for American quality craftsmanship and maintenance?...
Or perhaps you want to imbue yourself with the details of corruption and technological incompetence surrounding the world's most expensive (your tax money at work!) public works project: the Boston Big Dig.
Contractors poured subpar quality cement into this structure, and as a result this project is doomed for eternal monitoring for catastrophic failure. Already many leaks occurred, and one fatal ceiling collapse:
http://www.boston.com/news/specials/big_dig_ceiling_collapse/
This is a brand new structure, and it is already a catastrophe...just think 50 years ahead!
So, before knocking China for selling you junk pliers (you were the idiot who bought that stuff in the 1st place), maybe you should think about all the American junk and stupidity that surrounds us. Cheers!...and Ni hao!:)
Re: Chinese steel ...and American stupidity.
Please clarify - HOW OLD WAS THAT BRIDGE IN MINNEAPOLIS??
Most of our infrastructure in the US is at least fifty years old, and well beyond the limits of their engineered lifespan.
Re: Chinese steel ...and American stupidity.
I didn't say EVERYTHING made in China is junk. Just their steel. Four other comments: First (to answer another poster), I've learned my lesson and will no longer (purposely) buy Chinese-made tools. Second, I didn't want to clog up the comments by mentioning this, but I've bought other Chinese-made products with critical parts made from steel, and those steel parts have failed at a ridiculous rate. So my judgment about Chinese steel isn't based on a single data point. Third, gabrielg01's counter-examples have nothing to do with steel. The Minneapolis bridge failed because of many decades of faulty maintenance, and the Big Dig's ceiling panels fell out because the wrong epoxy was used. Fourth, I did allow for the possibility that the Chinese export their cruddy steel and keep the good stuff for their own use.
Re: Chinese steel ...and American stupidity.
Just for the record, the I90 bridge collapsed primarily because of an original design flaw (truss gusset plates too thin), coupled with heavy loading from building materials stored on the bridge during rebuilding of the deck, coupled with structural rust damage from poor maintenance/lack of painting. The bridge could take 2 of 3, but not all three.
Steel quality was not an issue.
Whether it is wind, solar, geothermal, tidal or hydroelectric power, it is all in the name of using renewable and clean sources of energy. This is all well and good and we should wean ourselves off fossil fuel. However, I have excellent reasons to believe that it these costly alternatives are unnecessary. Fortunately for the world, all that will change soon due to a breakthrough in physics.
A new analysis of the causality of motion reveals that we are immersed in a huge ocean of clean energy, lots and lots of it. It turns out that, contrary to the mainstream physics doctrine, Aristotle was right: motion does require a cause. Call it 'Causality 101' if you will. As a result, we are moving in an immense lattice of energetic particles. No lattice => no motion.
Physics: The Problem with Motion
Physicists do not understand motion even if they think they do. In the not too distant future, we will have vehicles that will require no wheels, travel at tremendous speeds and negotiate right angle turns without slowing down and without incurring any damage due to inertial effects. Floating sky cities, New York to Beijing in minutes, earth to Mars in hours; that’s the future of energy and transportation. Wait for it.
I would love it if you were right, but obviously the burden of proof is on you. You know the old saying, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't true."
You owe me. Why? For explaining the true causality of motion to you. You should at least thank me. And you will thank me when the time comes. Won't be too long.
I am.
...still waiting...
(yawn)
...someone tell me when it gets close, will ya?
Patience is a virtue, my friend. How long have we been waiting for a cure for HIV and cancer? This lattice thing is worth it and you won't have to wait nearly as long.
U.S. has to free up cash or raise taxes for something like this
"China will install 514 megawatts of offshore wind over the next three to four years, and by 2020 will have invested $100 billion to install up to 30,000 megawatts."
Maybe we can pull 10,000 troops out of the Middle East and redirect those funds to off shore power development and do the same.
will blow over in one of the yearly typhoons.
as others mentioned, china has QC problems. Brand new skyscraper buildings in Shanghai toppled due to substandard concrete and chinese steel had to be replace in recent construction in another country.
They need to separate biz and the state, like we (are supposed to) do. Then regulators and inspectors wouldn't be paid off, and instead find the problems and make companies fix them.
That said, a simple solution would be blades that feather. You want windmills to work in high winds because they produce alot of power, but over a certain speed they'll stress or break the windmills, so they should feather the blades downward next to the tower.
This of course adds extra expense but so does replacing windmills that are too stupid to fold up in 150 or 250 mph winds of a typhoon.
Here is what concerns me.
"Cape Wind, ... ordered 130 turbines ... The difference is China's first offshore wind farm, is about to start generating electricity, whereas Cape Wind has been waiting for its federal permit ... Secretary Ken Salazar has promised a decision on Cape Wind by the end of this month."
It seems to me that we are fast approaching the point where we will no longer be able to compete with other industrialized countries. We seem to be so divided as individuals and so restrained by government regulations that accomplishing anything in our country seems almost impossible.
A really sad state of affairs for our country.
tomgarven@hotmail.com
Don't blame the government. It was Ted Kennedy, acting on behalf of his rich friends. Fortunately he's finally dead, so this project can proceed.
I wished it was as easy as blaming one individual for what we are facing in our country but it goes much further than that.
We don't seem to be able to build more nuclear plants because of our inability to manage the waste.
We don't seem to be able to build more solar plants because we have failed to manage our water resources.
We don't seem to be able to build more transmission lines because no one wants one running over their property.
We don't seem to be able to install wind turbines because some people don't like the noise they make.
We don't seem to be able to create new nuclear reactor types because no one wants to finance one.
We can't drill offshore because people don't want to have their view spoiled when the go to the beach on Saturdays.
We don't seem to value someone who says they made a mistake. Instead we try to get even.
Of course these are just a few lame excuses for our complete inability to address the energy needs of our country. I sincerely wished it was just as easy as blaming one individual but it isn't. It is true that the individual mentioned was against the installation of wind turbines but that doesn't excuse the rest of us for not working together for the good of the country. One politician can not wreck our country unless we let them. It is not necessary for us to blindly follow politician who are frequently wrong.
In the last few days I read that peak oil will occur in 2014 and that of course is just 4 short years away. When that occurs, I expect gasoline to quickly hit $5-6.00/gallon. Diesel will be $6.00+/gallon. Watch for food prices to skyrocket. Watch for the cost of everything else to also jump in price. Then add more government taxes which are now being discussed. Add a 15-20% Value Added Tax/Sales Tax. Also the government is trying to resurrect Cap and Trade which of course will probably also pass. This of course will increase our utility costs by [pick a number] something like 20-40% since so much of our energy comes from coal which will of course be taxed.
Can anyone else see where this is heading or am I the only one with such a rosy outlook.
Chinese making junk products for a reason
There is a website called www.dealextreme.com, which sales all kinds of made-in-China crappy gadgets to online Americans. I found an interesting phenomenon on that website: if you want to buy a replacement laptop charger for instance, there are three options: $20, $40 and $100 ones. Most people purchased $20 ones, they seem to like it because it works fine but always complain that the quality could be better. Very few people buy $40 or $100 ones therefore there are very few or none user's reviews.
You get what you paid. Chinese understand this very well. They understand the best cost-quality balance on which they can make the most money. They definitely are able to manufacture top quality stuffs which will make them lose money because the market is not in favor of higher cost.
For those who bought made-in-China junks, you don't have to buy them if you expect top quality in the first place. You buy them because you want to save money and get basic functionality, and those Chinese products perfectly accomplish this goal. For Chinese it works in the same way. Their government understands the country's best interest better than US government, they will make a better decision for themselves on choosing right quality for their project. Generalizing their QC just based on your experience on some low cost junk product to their ability to build high quality projects only shows your pathetic confidence.
Every time when news about China takes a lead on something, China bashing comments come out as always.
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dancrissco
54 Comments
Opportunity for the USA
Can our readers point us to how the USA can benefit from offshore wind power generation. No pun intended.
We have a very long shore line and an under exploited resource. Could we have floating offshore townships generating power and at the same time even producing essential goods and services from the sea?
Could these be floating universities imparting knowledge to co-op students who could get a Associate, Bachelors or a Masters degree as they maintained, operated and produced from the utility? A no loan education.
Could we process essential minerals, desalinated water, process seafood, have maritime recreation as byproducts of the off shoring opportunity.
Who knows, there will be entrepreneurs looking at wind power casinos as well.
Then why not cruise ships be more of a learning experience other than a mundane party theme.
Probably not so original thoughts as many have proposed these before.
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cloffshoresemis
1 Comment
Re: Opportunity for the USA
I belong to a group advocating an ultra large floating platform for San Diego. In addition to an international airport this would have all the facilities found in a city, factories. railways, sewage plants, wind and current generators. The design is based on Seaways Engineering's Multi-Purpose semis submersible developed in the eighties to reduce the cost of floating platforms for hazardous stormy areas like the North Sea. Examples of the MPSS are Shell Na Kika, (200,000 bbls per day) BP Thunderhorse (300,000 bbls per day). cloffshoresemis@gmail.com
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dancrissco
54 Comments
Re: Opportunity for the USA
Thats sounds like a very exiting prospect. How good are the chances of this happening? This is just what we need to kick start more efforts in this area. Thanks for the information.
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