China's wind power faces "a joy and a worry"

The 13th World Wind Energy Conference was held in Shanghai recently. Compared with the first time when this event was held 10 years ago, the second time when the host country of China was no longer a "potential stock," it has become the world's number one wind power market.

The rapid development has made China's wind power a global attraction. However, the sustainable development of wind power in China is also facing a "happy and worried" situation.

Statistics show that by the end of 2003, China’s wind power installed capacity was only 500,000 kilowatts. By 2013, the grid-connected capacity of wind power will reach 77 million kilowatts, while the actual hoisting capacity will exceed 90 million kilowatts. In 10 years, China's wind power installed capacity has risen from the tenth in the world to the first, and wind power has become the third largest power source after thermal power and hydropower.

Behind the rapid development is the rapid growth of domestic and foreign-funded enterprises. At the end of 2003, the cumulative lifting capacity of domestic wind turbine manufacturers was only 60,000 kilowatts; by the end of 2013, it had soared to 80.1 million kilowatts. For foreign-funded enterprises, cumulative lifting capacity for these two periods was 510,000 kilowatts and 11.3 million kilowatts respectively. In the past 10 years, foreign and domestic-funded wind power manufacturing companies have achieved "win-win" in China.

However, in the booming situation, the development of the wind power industry is also facing the potential for overcapacity, grid lagging and other development concerns.

According to statistics from the Renewable Energy Center of the National Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, in 2009, there were more than 80 companies engaged in wind turbine manufacturing in China, with an annual production capacity of 40 million kilowatts, and the domestic market had an annual demand of about 20 million kilowatts. The vicious competition caused the average price of wind turbines in 2011 to drop to 3,600 yuan/kW, and many manufacturing companies faced difficulties in survival.

After the industrial restructuring and market selection in recent years, this problem has eased. At present, the number of wind turbine manufacturers in China has been reduced to about 30, and the degree of industrial concentration has increased significantly. In 2013, the bidding price of wind turbines has risen to 4,000 yuan/kW.

However, even more worrying than overcapacity is that the development of wind power grids in China has been lagging far behind the construction of wind farms for many years, and the phenomenon of “abandoning wind and limiting electricity” has been prominent.

According to statistics from the Wind Energy Professional Committee of the Chinese Renewable Energy Society, as of the end of 2009, 8 million kilowatts of wind turbines that had been hoisted nationwide failed to be connected to the grid, and as many as 13 to 14 million kilowatts of wind turbines were waiting to be connected to the grid each year. Even if the wind farm and the power grid are successfully connected, the problem of “rejecting wind curtailment” arises because it cannot be completely absorbed.

According to statistics, in 2011, 2012, and 2013, the average wind farm wind rate in China reached 14.5%, 17.1%, and 10.7%, respectively. This means that a large amount of clean wind power is wasted every minute.

At the 13th World Wind Energy Conference, a large number of domestic and foreign experts provided suggestions and suggestions for solving the problem of “abandoning wind curtailment”, including increasing the local electric power load, establishing and promoting wind power heating demonstration projects, and constructing cross-regional power transmission channels to lift wind power from the west. Transportation to the eastern power load center; encouraging decentralized development, etc.

Wu Xinxiong, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission and director of the National Energy Administration, revealed that China is currently planning to build 12 cross-district power transmission channels. According to Yi Yuechun, executive deputy director of the National Wind Power Information Management Center, the fourth batch of wind power approved projects listed in the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” announced by the National Energy Administration at the beginning of the year were distributed in the relatively developed Mideast and South area.