High Quality Development Research Tour | "Wind" and "Light" are Good Here - Jilin Strives to Promote High Quality Development in the Clean Energy New Track | Industry | Energy

Changchun, September 3 (Xinhua) - "Wind" and "Light" are Good on This Side - Jilin Strives to Promote High Quality Development in the New Track of Clean Energy

Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Shuangxi

The western part of Jilin Province is located in Songliao Clean Energy Base, one of the nine major clean energy bases in China. According to State Grid Jilin Electric Power Co., Ltd., the total amount of technological development of wind and solar resources in Jilin Province is approximately 115 million kilowatts.

In recent years, Jilin Province has utilized its unique scenic resources and power transmission channels to vigorously develop the clean energy industry. It has also gathered the wind power equipment manufacturing industry and extended the industrial chain, highlighting the price advantage of clean energy power generation.

Smooth power transmission roads and rapid development of clean energy generation

Taking the high-speed rail from Changchun City all the way west, as you approach Baicheng City, you can see giant windmills standing tall and spinning rapidly on the vast plain.

"The first wind turbine in Jilin Province was erected from here," said Hao Zhongqiang, Deputy Director of Tongyu County Energy Bureau, pointing to a nearby wind turbine. In October 1999, the first wind farm in the Baicheng area was built in Tongyu County, becoming the largest wind power plant in Northeast China at that time, and also marking the beginning of the development of clean energy in Jilin Province.

Aerial photos of Huaneng Shihuadao Wind Farm in Tongyu County, Jilin Province. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jiang Mingming

In 2009, Tongyu County planned to build a 2.3 million kilowatt wind power base, but the project construction was hindered shortly after its launch. "In 2009, the annual electricity generation in Tongyu County had reached 800 million kilowatt hours, but the local consumption was only 300 million kilowatt hours, which limited the development of wind power due to the inability to transmit electricity." said Hao Zhongqiang.

In 2017, a Lugu DC ultra-high voltage line was completed from Zhalute Banner, Inner Mongolia to Qingzhou, Shandong. The electricity from western Jilin was transmitted to Weifang, Shandong to support the electricity demand in East China. At this point, clean energy power generation in Jilin has developed rapidly. This year, Baicheng City has become a "clean energy power generation city with a capacity of millions of kilowatts". Jilin Province has proposed the construction of the "Three Gorges of Land Scenery", and by 2025, the province aims to achieve a clean energy installed capacity of 30 million kilowatts.

Industrial concentration layout highlights price "depression"

The staff of the Sany Tongyu Large Capacity Fan Carbon Fiber Technology Application Demonstration Wind Farm pointed to the fan with a diameter of 195 meters and said, "This is a fan blade made of carbon fiber material, which is lighter and stronger than traditional fiberglass material."

In the city of Tongyu County, which is more than 10 kilometers away from the wind farm, production enterprises can be found in everything from wind turbine blades, engine hood, tower tubes, to screw anchors. We are building a one-stop procurement city for the entire wind power industry chain here.

In the workshop of Sany Wind Power Equipment Technology Co., Ltd. in Tongyu County, workers are assembling wind turbines. According to Chen Yongchun, the administrative manager of the company, since the implementation of the "dual carbon" strategy, the enterprise has entered a stage of rapid development. "In 2020, our annual output value was 560 million yuan. In 2022, the output value reached 2.08 billion yuan, and this year our goal is 3 billion yuan," said Chen Yongchun.

Workers in the workshop of Sany Wind Power Equipment Technology Co., Ltd. in Tongyu County are engaged in production. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jiang Mingming

The wind turbines used in the earliest wind farms built in Jilin Province were mostly imported from Spain or Denmark. "Around 2010, due to the low degree of localization of wind turbines, key core technologies were monopolized by foreign equipment manufacturers, and wind power prices remained high," said Cui Jindong, a professor at the School of Economics and Management at Northeast Electric Power University. In recent years, with the localization of wind turbines, the cost of power generation has gradually decreased.

"The cost per kilowatt of wind farms has been reduced from 10000 yuan to 5000 yuan, and the power generation cost of wind power is lower than that of thermal power," said Wang Lingshan, Secretary of the Maintenance Center Branch of the New Energy Branch of Huaneng Jilin Power Generation Co., Ltd.

Extension and development of the industrial chain, upstream and downstream connectivity

The development of the clean energy industry has driven the whole body, connecting many industrial chains upstream and downstream, and also showcasing new tracks.

Recently, in the green power industry demonstration park of Baicheng City, workers are debugging equipment for trial production in the factory building of the 5 million kVAh production project of Jidian Energy Valley Energy Storage Investment Co., Ltd.'s battery production and comprehensive utilization of waste batteries. Wang Changqing, the person in charge of project construction, introduced that after the first phase of the project is fully put into operation, the total annual output value will be 4.4 billion yuan. It will also attract upstream and downstream enterprises to gather in the western part of Jilin, forming an industrial chain of lead carbon battery energy storage from basic material manufacturing and component production to battery assembly, energy storage system integration, and then to the recycling and utilization of waste battery materials. In addition, projects such as green electricity hydrogen production and synthetic ammonia production are also rapidly being constructed in various parts of western Jilin.

The fan blades produced by Jilin Zhongtong Chengfei New Materials Co., Ltd. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jiang Mingming

The relevant person in charge of the Development and Reform Commission of Songyuan City stated that Songyuan City is promoting the inclusive development of clean energy and traditional fossil energy, based on wind and solar resources, to form an industrial cluster that integrates clean energy power generation, clean energy equipment manufacturing, energy storage, and clean energy application.

"We will promote the large-scale development, higher level consumption, and more diversified utilization of clean energy, and transform resource advantages into development advantages," said Wang Chengfeng, Deputy Director of the Baicheng Energy Bureau.