Focus Interview: Green Electricity and Beautiful Scenery
To promote the achievement of carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, China is vigorously developing renewable energy. Three years have passed now, how has the effect been?
In the northern and southern parts of the Tianshan Mountains in eastern Xinjiang, blue photovoltaic panels stretch endlessly.
Long Gang, Director of the Development and Reform Commission of Xinxing City, 13th Division of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, said, "Our total installed capacity of photovoltaic and wind power in Xinxing City has reached 2.4 million kilowatts. In 2022, the total power generation of wind and photovoltaic power is 3.8 billion kilowatt hours, which is equivalent to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 3 million tons."
Wind and light are also resources, and the scenic resources in the northwest region of China are unique. By 2025, the proportion of wind power and photovoltaic installed capacity in the northwest region of China will reach about 28% and 29% of the total installed capacity in the country, respectively.
Long Gang said, "The advantage of wind and solar power mainly lies in the number of hours of power generation. The average annual photovoltaic energy can reach about 1800 hours, which is the highest in the country. Photovoltaic power generation is affected by many factors, and the most important parameter is the radiation index of light. Hami is the region with the strongest comprehensive advantage, which can achieve the same wind and solar power field, thereby maximizing the per mu efficiency."
In 2021, the State Council issued the Action Plan for Carbon Peak before 2030, which emphasized the need to vigorously develop new energy. By 2030, the total installed capacity of wind and solar power generation will exceed 1.2 billion kilowatts. With the continuous expansion of wind and photovoltaic installed capacity, new transmission lines are also being built.
Wang Chong'an, the director of the control room of State Grid Hami Power Supply Company, said, "State Grid Xinjiang Electric Power Co., Ltd. has successively built four channels for external transmission, from Changji to Anhui and southern Anhui, from Hami to Zhengzhou in Henan, from Hami to Dunhuang, and from Hami to Shazhou. The cumulative external transmission electricity is 688.6 billion kilowatt hours, of which green electricity accounts for about 19.6 billion kilowatt hours, and every three kilowatt hours of electricity is once green electricity."
Xinxing City is one of the youngest county-level cities in China, established in 2021. In recent years, with the rapid rise of wind power, photovoltaic, energy storage, and green hydrogen energy industries, a large number of industrial projects have been attracted to land, forming a group of industrial clusters worth billions of yuan.
In 2021, the Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Fully Implementing the New Development Concept and Doing a Good Job in Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality proposed to "implement renewable energy substitution actions, vigorously develop wind energy, solar energy, biomass energy, marine energy, geothermal energy, etc., and continuously increase the proportion of non fossil energy consumption.".
Professor Zhang Xiliang from the Institute of Nuclear Energy and New Energy Technology at Tsinghua University said, "Carbon peaking and carbon neutrality are major decisions made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China after careful consideration of both international and domestic situations. Climate change is the greatest threat to human survival, and China must make its due contribution to a community with a shared future for mankind. From an international perspective, competition in the low-carbon and zero carbon product industry is crucial. If China is neutral in this new technology trade and economic pattern, it must develop low-carbon, zero carbon, and negative carbon technologies and such industries."
Renewable energy is an inexhaustible green and low-carbon energy source, which is of great significance for improving energy structure, protecting the ecological environment, addressing climate change, and achieving sustainable economic and social development. In areas with abundant scenic resources such as the northwest of China, a coordinated transformation of energy consumption and production has begun to be achieved, leading to clean and low-carbon energy consumption. New Star City is utilizing its abundant renewable energy resources to build three large-scale hydrogen energy industry projects. Green hydrogen is produced by electrolysis of water using renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, with no carbon emissions during the production process. It is the main force of the future green energy revolution.
Long Gang said, "Now all major industrial projects need to be equipped with 50% to 70% green electricity, in order to achieve carbon peak as early as possible. Based on the existing new energy and vigorously developing the hydrogen energy industry, after expert calculations, it is possible to equip an additional 1 million tons of hydrogen energy in the future, which will basically achieve industrial carbon neutrality in the region. With an additional 2 million tons of production capacity, the overall carbon neutrality strategy can be achieved in the region."
In 2022, China's solar photovoltaic industry added an installed capacity of 87.41 million kilowatts, reaching a new historical high. The scale of the photovoltaic manufacturing industry has also reached a historic high, with the total output value of the manufacturing end exceeding 1.4 trillion yuan and the export of photovoltaic products exceeding 51.2 billion US dollars. In the past decade, China's renewable energy industry has gone through a stage of large-scale development and is taking great strides towards a new stage of high-quality leapfrog development. From the northwest desert and Gobi to the southeast coast, the development of renewable energy is advancing rapidly.
Zhang Chuanwei, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Mingyang Group, said, "The diameter of an 18 megawatt wind turbine impeller can reach 290 meters. It can generate 60 kilowatt hours of electricity in just one revolution, and can generate 100 million kilowatt hours of electricity in a year, covering 100000 households and reducing 70000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions."
The 16 MW to 18 MW offshore wind turbine is currently the world's largest and most advanced offshore wind turbine, a true offshore "giant", equipped with 1700 sensors throughout the body to ensure safe, stable, and efficient operation of the wind turbine in harsh environments such as super typhoons.
In just ten years, China has become the main driver of global ocean energy utilization. Not only has offshore wind power moved from mudflat to the open sea, but also tidal current energy and floating wave energy technologies are world leading. In just over 40 years, China has achieved the development of renewable energy from scratch, from small to large, ranking among the world's top in terms of installed capacity and production capacity of product equipment.
Zhang Chuanwei said, "Italy's first offshore wind power was the equipment we provided, Japan's first floating wind turbine and the first offshore wind power were the technology and equipment we provided. The Philippines, Vietnam, and Southeast Asia almost 70% of offshore and onshore wind power comes from China's equipment manufacturing. We have become the world's largest wind turbine manufacturing country, with 80% of global solar energy and about a quarter of wind power coming from Chinese made technology and equipment, greatly promoting these countries to play a leading and driving role in low-carbon, decarbonized, and green development."
In 2022, the newly installed capacity of renewable energy worldwide reached 295 million kilowatts, an increase of 9.6%. Among them, China is the largest contributor to the new installed capacity of renewable energy generation worldwide, accounting for 51.7% of the world's new installed capacity. Key components such as photovoltaic modules, wind turbines, and gearboxes produced in China account for 70% of the global market share.
In 2022, the national wind power generation reached 762.4 billion kilowatt hours, with an average utilization rate of 96.8%, maintaining a relatively high level. Compared to the rapid rise of wind and photovoltaic power, hydropower continues to maintain its traditional advantages.
At the end of last year, the Baihetan Hydropower Station was fully completed and put into operation. The six giant cascade hydropower stations on the lower reaches of the Jinsha River and the main stream of the Yangtze River - Wudongde, Baihetan, Xiluodu, Xiangjiaba, Three Gorges, and Gezhouba - formed the world's largest "clean energy corridor".
Lei Mingshan, Secretary of the Party Group and Chairman of China Three Gorges Group, said, "We call it the world's largest green energy corridor, with a total installed capacity of 71.695 million kilowatts. The annual power generation can reach 300 billion kilowatt hours, reducing carbon emissions by nearly 100 million tons. Firstly, in terms of quantity, it provides a continuous supply of green energy for the achievement of the 'dual carbon' goal, providing important green electricity for the southeast coastal areas, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Bay Area."
This world's largest cascade power plant group provides safe and stable energy security for the southern region of China, especially the eastern coastal areas.
From the technology introduction, digestion, and absorption of 700000 kilowatt units in the Three Gorges Dam, to the national production of 1 million kilowatt units in Baihetan, China's dam construction and unit design and manufacturing technology lead the world, and now to the comprehensive development and utilization of wind, solar, and water, Three Gorges Group has become the world's largest renewable energy group in terms of power generation.
In 2022, renewable energy generation in China accounts for 31.6% of the total electricity consumption in society. During the 14th Five Year Plan period, it will reach 33% of the total electricity consumption in society, and further increase to over 36% by 2030. As of the first half of 2023, the installed capacity of renewable energy in China reached 1.322 billion kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 18.2%, historically surpassing coal-fired power.
Zhang Xiliang said, "Energy needs to undergo transformation. One aspect is to improve energy efficiency, minimize energy consumption, and save energy. The second aspect is the transformation of energy structure, replacing fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas with renewable energy and nuclear energy. The third aspect is called electrification, which requires electrification in industry and electrification in transportation. From this perspective, it is indeed the development of renewable energy that drives the development of downstream industries."
According to data released by the International Renewable Energy Agency, in 2012, China's renewable energy generation lagged behind the United States, and by the end of 2021, China's renewable energy generation had already tripled compared to the United States. In 2022, China's renewable energy generation is equivalent to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 2.26 billion tons. The exported wind and photovoltaic products can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 570 million tons for other countries, totaling 2.83 billion tons, making a huge contribution to China's clean and low-carbon transformation and global response to climate change.
In the past decade, China has supported an average annual economic growth rate of 6.2% with an average energy consumption growth rate of 3%. The energy consumption per unit of GDP has decreased by 40% compared to 2012, and the proportion of non fossil fuels in China has increased by 7.8 percentage points compared to 2012. The carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP have decreased by 40.1% compared to 2012. Green development and transformation are leading the transformation of development and production methods, which is a better future for high-quality and green low-carbon development.
With the gradual expansion of the scale of new energy development and utilization, and the accelerated iterative evolution of the energy system form, China has gradually moved from a major country in new energy utilization to a strong country in new energy technology and new energy industry.Carbon peaking and carbon neutrality are not only commitments and attitudes from China, but also examples of China's contributions to the world.
