With an installed capacity of more than 20 Three Gorges hydropower stations, what kind of wind is blowing from the "Shago Wilderness"?
According to relevant documents, by 2030, the total installed capacity of large-scale wind and solar bases planned by the mainland focusing on deserts, Gobi and desert areas will reach 455 million kilowatts. This volume exceeds the installed capacity of the 20 Three Gorges hydropower stations combined.
The "Shago Barren" area is insulated from agriculture and forestry, but it is the most suitable area for "growing the sun" on the mainland. This is a blessed land for wind power photovoltaic energy. With the construction of large bases and the research and application of UHVDC transmission projects in the "Shago Wilderness" area, the wind from the mainland desert wasteland area will continue to blow more "green electricity".
The new blue ocean in the "Shago Wilderness"
"Shago Wilderness" is a collective name for deserts, Gobi and deserts. Data show that China's desertification land area is 2.61 million square kilometers, accounting for 27% of the total land area. Frontier desert, Gobi wasteland, this land of grass, but also the continent's solar energy, wind energy resources are the richest area, with the construction of wind power photovoltaic base, this has become a new blessed land in the energy field.
In recent years, the state has repeatedly proposed to accelerate the construction of large-scale wind power photovoltaic bases in deserts, Gobi and desert areas. The "14th Five-Year Plan" for renewable energy development issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Energy Administration and other 9 departments clearly states that the promotion of large-scale wind power and solar power generation bases focusing on the "Shage Wilderness" area will be accelerated.
Previously, in October 2021, at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity Leaders' Summit, Continental stated that it would continue to promote the adjustment of industrial structure and energy structure, vigorously develop renewable energy, and accelerate the planning and construction of large-scale wind power photovoltaic base projects in deserts, Gobi and desert areas.
In February 2022, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration issued the "Planning and Layout Plan for Large-scale Wind Power Photovoltaic Bases Focusing on Deserts, Gobi and Desert Areas", which clarifies that by 2030, the mainland will plan to build a total installed capacity of about 455 million kilowatts of wind and solar bases.
What is the concept of 455 million kilowatts? The reporter learned that the installed capacity of the Three Gorges Hydropower Station is 22.5 million kilowatts, and by 2030, the installed capacity of the mainland's "Shage Wilderness" area will exceed the total of 20 Three Gorges hydropower stations. This also means that the construction of the "scenery" base in the "Shage Wilderness" area will gradually become an important part of the mainland's new energy development.
Open up green power transmission corridors in strong winds and quicksand
There is no lack of clean energy in the "Shage Wilderness", but compared with the base-type offshore wind power and the construction of distributed photovoltaic energy in the central and eastern regions of the mainland, it is naturally difficult to build large-scale wind and solar units in the "Shago Famine".
Li Benliang, director of the Design Consulting Center of the State Grid Economic and Technological Research Institute (hereinafter referred to as the "State Grid Economic Research Institute"), introduced that the special environmental conditions such as strong winds, strong sand, high temperature and drought in the "Shage Barren" area have brought many problems to the construction and implementation of the project. In these areas, there are more dust days, sandstorms, seasonal temperature differences and day-night temperature differences vary greatly, as well as flowing sand dunes and high temperatures, and the construction of wind power photovoltaic bases in extreme environments and special conditions requires more consideration from the beginning of site selection construction.
The State Grid Engineering Aviation Remote Sensing and Intelligent Survey and Design Technology Laboratory of the State Grid Economic Research Institute is an important platform for the company's power grid engineering design technology innovation research, and "Shage Waste" is the most important field of technology application and innovation here.
Li Benliang said that relying on the new power system scientific and technological research team of the State Grid Corporation established in the laboratory, in view of the efficient and flexible transmission of wind and solar storage energy bases in desert areas, in extreme environmental conditions, such as electric field distortion, insulation aging, construction difficulties, mobile sand dune burial, equipment cooling and fire protection, etc., scientific research topics such as the spatial distribution of aeolian sand in western desert areas, the key technologies of power transmission and transformation design and construction adapted to the arid environment of aeolian sand, and the evaluation and prevention of mobile sand dunes in desert areas have been carried out.
"These studies can screen reasonable transmission corridor paths and converter station sites for large-scale power transmission in the 'Shagohuang' area, provide reasonable engineering design parameter values, and improve the ability of transmission lines to resist wind and sand." Li Benliang said that this will also solve the problem of high intensity and high danger of construction operations such as erecting towers in desert areas, and improve the reliability and economy of the project. The results will help improve the ability of power projects to withstand extreme climate and harsh environments, and provide support for the construction of large-scale power transmission projects in the "Shage Wilderness" area in the windswept and arid "Shago Barren" area.
The first batch of "Shagehuang" large-scale wind power photovoltaic base projects have been fully started
At present, the construction of these large-scale wind power photovoltaic bases is progressing smoothly.
In 2021, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration identified the first batch of 50 large-scale wind power photovoltaic base projects of about 100 million kilowatts. At the end of March this year, the three departments issued a notice to encourage the construction of large-scale photovoltaic bases in deserts, next doors, deserts and other areas. In April, the first batch of "Shagehuang" new energy base projects located in Tengger Shamo, Ningxia, were officially connected to the grid for power generation.
At the press conference of the National Energy Administration in the third quarter of 2023, the relevant person in charge pointed out that Gansu and other provinces (regions) continue to promote the construction of large-scale "Shagehuang" wind power photovoltaic base projects, and new breakthroughs have been made in the development of renewable energy. As of the first quarter of this year, the first batch of 97.05 million kilowatt base projects have been fully started, and the project grid connection work is actively advancing, and strive to complete and put into operation before the end of the year. The second batch of base projects has started construction one after another, and the list of the third batch of base projects has been officially issued and implemented recently.
Almost simultaneously with the wind power photovoltaic base project, there is also the UHVDC transmission project.
Li Ming, director of the DC Center of the State Grid Economic Research Institute, said that the DC engineering construction in different regions has common characteristics, and there are also key problems that need to be solved in different scenarios and different regions, "For example, offshore wind power DC transmission focuses on solving the problem of equipment seaworthiness and high reliability, the southwest region, especially in southeast Tibet, focuses on solving the problem of high altitude and weak system access, and the 'Shage Wilderness' UHVDC focuses on solving the problem of large-scale and high-proportion new energy collection and reliable delivery in the 'Shage Wilderness' wide area." Due to the contradiction between the three characteristics of new energy (randomness, volatility, and intermittency) and the demand for reliable and stable power supply in the power grid, and the difficulty of direct integration of large-scale new energy into the local power grid, the optimal allocation of wide-area resources and the reliable integration and consumption of new energy can be achieved through UHV, and ensuring the friendly and reliable consumption of large-scale new energy by UHV is the key to tackling key problems. ”
There is also good news in the process of continuous research. In June this year, the State Grid 800 kV UHVDC transmission project from Ningxia to Hunan ± started construction, which is the first UHV project to transmit power outside the wind photovoltaic base in the "Shage Wilderness" area in the mainland. In the future, this project will open another channel for power transmission for Ningxia.
In Li Ming's view, this means that the engineering and technical problems of Ningxiang UHV itself have been overcome, and the common problems of "Shagehuang" UHV in the Ningxiang project have also been solved, "but just like offshore wind power technology, the development of UHV DC technology has not stopped the pace of innovation." The construction of the new 'Shagehuang' UHV project may face problems that have not been encountered in the Ningxiang project, which requires continuous innovation to solve them. ”
Beijing News reporter Tian Jiexiong
Edited by Shuang Bai Proofread by Lu Qian