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In 1988, when Deng Gong met with visiting Philippine President Mrs. Benigno Aquino and reaffirmed China's absolute sovereignty over the South China Sea, Aquino said: At least geographically, the South China Sea is very close to the Philippines......
Deng Gong took a puff of cigarette, didn't look at Aquino at all, and said lightly: "The Philippines, it's not far from China!"
Today, China has regained many islands and reefs in the South China Sea, and its de facto control over the South China Sea is increasing day by day, but some foreign forces are not reconciled and are still trying to stir up trouble in the South China Sea.
But what is it that China's emergence of this weapon will put an end to their illusions and make the islands and reefs of the South China Sea invincible?
"The bigger the storm, the more expensive the fish", but China does not like to eat high-priced fish, and a calm South China Sea will become a sea of peace and development.
Only by crushing with absolute strength can all shrimp soldiers and crabs be dumbfounded, and China needs to build a blue Great Wall on the vast sea frontier.
Mrs. Aquino was right, the South China Sea is indeed close to the Philippines, which allows them to use their geographical advantage to intrude into the South China Sea.
In the last century, the mainland's maritime power was relatively weak, and it was true that it was beyond the reach of the South China Sea, but with the increase of national strength, the scientific and technological strength flourished, prompting the rapid progress of various industries.
Today, whether it is military, infrastructure, energy, or people's livelihood, it is enough to show China's power at sea.
Since the 90s of the last century, the mainland has successively built four airports on Woody Island, Fiery Cross Reef, Subi Reef, and Mischief Reef, and has stationed garrison troops on many islands.
For some islands with poor natural conditions, infrastructure construction has been carried out through sand blowing and reclamation, so as to improve the garrison conditions of the islands and reefs.
But it also raises the question of how to achieve an adequate supply of energy on islands and reefs in the oceans far from the mainland.
Once the energy supply is insufficient, radar, airplanes, and other equipment will become decorations, and even the lives of personnel stationed on the island will be inconvenienced.
In the past, the mainland mainly transported fuel to the islands through supply ships, mainly thermal power generation, and then wind and photovoltaic power generation as auxiliaries to realize the energy supply of these islands and reefs.
This is of course fine in normal times, but if there are special circumstances and the supply line is cut off, relying on wind and solar power alone cannot support the energy demand of large-scale equipment.
This is because the area of the islands and reefs is limited, and it is impossible to build large-scale wind or photovoltaic power generation bases as on land, and it is difficult to meet the demand with these two energy sources.
One might think of nuclear energy, which, indeed, is not only clean and safe, but also provides an almost inexhaustible source of energy.
However, there are prerequisites for the safety of nuclear energy, and it must be done under the condition that the equipment is not attacked and the nuclear fuel is not leaked, and if the nuclear power generation equipment is damaged, it will be an irreparable disaster.
Relatively speaking, thermal power generation is more efficient and less expensive, but it must be transported from land to the islands and reefs, even if there is no human obstruction, and if it is in extreme weather, it will also cause the supply to not arrive on time.
The energy demand on the islands and reefs is incomparable to civilian use, just like high-power electromagnetic catapult tracks, radars, laser weapons and other new military equipment, all of which are large consumers of electricity, and must have a stable and sufficient power supply to work normally.
As the saying goes, "eat the sea by the sea", the vast ocean is not only rich in products, but also contains endless energy, tidal energy, wave energy, ocean temperature difference energy and seawater salt difference energy, are inexhaustible energy treasure trove.
The mainland was the first to focus on wave energy, using the never-ending waves in the ocean to generate electricity.
In June 2023, the "Nankun" was officially put into trial operation, which is the first megawatt-level floating wave energy power generation device independently developed by the mainland, with a maximum power generation capacity of 24,000 kWh per day, equivalent to the electricity consumption of 3,500 households in a day.
After about five months of trial operation, the Nankun was officially connected to the grid in November 2023 to provide power to many islands and reefs in the South China Sea, including Sansha City.
This time, the Nankun is the first time to carry out the mission in a state of 24-hour uninterrupted power supply, and according to the plan, it will continue to generate power for a year, which is also a major breakthrough for the utilization of wave energy in the mainland.
In fact, after the announcement of the Nankun in 2023, the outside world has thought that China's construction of the South China Sea cross-sea power grid will definitely take the Nankun as an important link, but at that time people still had a wait-and-see attitude towards this.
This is because the Nankun is a power generation device floating on the vast sea, far from the mainland, and without a well-established undersea transmission line, the Nankun power generation is meaningless.
Therefore, in order for the Nankun to achieve normal power generation, the prerequisite is that the submarine cable network must be built.
This is by no means an easy task, the depth of the sea around Sansha City is 500 to 1000 meters, and the average depth of the South China Sea has reached more than 2000 meters.
Therefore, it was generally believed that the Nankun was unlikely to be put into use in the short term, but I did not expect that in less than half a year, China would realize the grid-connected power generation of the Nankun, and I have to say that China's infrastructure capacity is really strong!
In fact, before the news of the Nankun was announced, the mainland already had a very mature technology in the research of wave energy power generation, which had been applied to the power generation of navigation light buoys, lighthouses and other equipment, but the power of the previous power generation devices was far less than that of the Nankun.
Therefore, in the process of developing the Nankun, we must continue to innovate in technology, and the first thing to solve is the problem of power generation efficiency.
Wave energy has to go through three levels of transformation to become electrical energy, and the waves at sea are not stable, and the size of the waves is different depending on the season, so the energy loss is also very high in the process of power generation.
The Nankun adopts a triangular design scheme, with a flat area of more than 3,500 square meters and a weight of more than 4,000 tons, to maximize the contact area between the equipment and the waves.
At the same time, the Nankun adopts adaptive wave power generation technology, which automatically adjusts the generator set according to the size of the wave, and improves the power generation efficiency as much as possible, achieving an energy conversion rate of 22%.
Floating in the ocean, but also to consider the impact of bad weather at sea, the Nankun has an automatic water injection system, when a typhoon comes, the device can be sunk by water injection, even a 16-level typhoon is not afraid of the slightest.
In response to the natural environment of high temperature, high humidity and high salt in the South China Sea, the Nankun uses special materials and technologies to enhance its reliability, reduce the accident rate, and achieve stable and continuous power generation as much as possible.
The grid-connected power generation of the Nankun is the first time that the mainland has achieved megawatt-level wave energy power generation, and it is also of great significance for the development and utilization of new energy in the mainland.
Wave energy has the characteristics of renewable and green environmental protection, and once the technical conditions are mature and widely commercialized, it will bring huge economic and social benefits, and will undoubtedly promote the realization of the "double carbon goal" in the mainland.
At present, the technical level of continental wave energy is in a leading position in the world, and 71% of the earth's surface is covered by the ocean.
At the same time, the South China Sea is vast, and the mainland not only wants to achieve long-term peace and stability in the South China Sea, but also makes great efforts to cultivate this maritime frontier, and the planning of "marine ranching" shows a vigorous and prosperous scene.
With sufficient and stable energy security, it is entirely possible to build a future-oriented "pasture" in the South China Sea to achieve the coordinated development of many industries such as seedling breeding, oil and gas exploitation, biomedicine, intelligent unmanned ships, tourism, fishery and aquaculture.
It can be said that the grid-connected power generation of the Nankun is a symbolic step for the mainland to achieve energy security in the South China Sea, and it is expected to completely solve the problem of offshore energy supply in the near future.
Why not use energy to ensure peace and development, so as to win a substantial increase in economic benefits, better benefit the people, and let the countries surrounding the South China Sea share the dividends while China reaps actual benefits?
I believe that the South China Sea will eventually become a sea of friendship and a sea of win-win!
Resources:
[1] China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd., "The Nankun is coming! Trial operation of the mainland's first megawatt-level floating wave energy power generation device"
[2] CCTV: "Nankun" was put into trial operation, and the technical level of wave energy power generation in the mainland reached a new level
[3] CCTV: "Looking at Guangdong from the Sea | Innovation and Change, Blue Technology "Pointing to the Future"
[4] Lanxi Municipal People's Government: "The "Giant Charging Treasure" at Sea has become the "Dinghai Divine Needle" in the South China Sea!"
[5] Guang'an Daily: "Following Deng Xiaoping for Forty Years, Chapter 2 Witness (25)"