Why China's photovoltaic and wind power industry leads the world - Perspective on China's high-quality development - Wind power | Energy | Global

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, August 20th - Question: Why China's Photovoltaic and Wind Power Industry Leads the World - Perspective on China's High Quality Development Part Three

Xinhua News Agency reporter Dai Xiaohe

The latest data from the National Energy Administration shows that as of the end of June, China's installed capacity of renewable energy has exceeded 1.3 billion kilowatts, historically surpassing coal-fired power. Among them, the installed capacity of wind power is 389 million kilowatts, ranking first in the world for 13 consecutive years; The installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation is 470 million kilowatts, ranking first in the world for 8 consecutive years.

Being the world's number one, it has become a shining label for the "scenery" industry. Why can our country catch up from behind?

Leading the world with unlimited "scenery"

The center height of the wheel hub reaches 152 meters, and the swept area of the impeller is equivalent to the size of 7 football fields. The annual power generation exceeds 66 million kilowatt hours, which can meet the annual electricity consumption of 36000 households of three.

This is the world's first 16 megawatt ultra large capacity offshore wind turbine, which was connected to the Fujian offshore wind farm for power generation on July 19th.

This unit is a concentrated demonstration of China's wind power equipment manufacturing capabilities. Hundreds of sensors and LiDARs spread throughout the entire machine, capable of sensing temperature, humidity, wind speed and other information, digitally tracking the operation status of the unit, and adjusting angle and power through the intelligent "brain" of the unit.

In recent years, China's wind power has developed rapidly, from land to sea, constantly breaking through environmental restrictions, with "big windmills" spinning against the wind.

Du Zhongming, President of the Electric Power Planning and Design Institute, said that currently, China's wind power industry chain and supply chain are relatively complete, making it a "star" industry with international competitiveness.

In the Changlu Salt Field of Tianjin Binhai New Area, rows of blue photovoltaic modules are installed on the water surface. This is the world's largest single unit "salt light complementary" project that was recently connected to the grid for power generation - the Huadian Tianjin Haijing "salt light complementary" power station, which can produce 1.5 billion kilowatt hours of green electricity annually.

In Inner Mongolia, the first "wind and fire bundling" new energy transmission base project in China - Huaneng Shangdu Million Kilowatt Wind Power Base - was connected to the grid on June 30th, marking China's Huaneng New Energy installed capacity exceeding 60 million kilowatts; With a batch of projects such as Yunnan Gengma Donglao 95 MW photovoltaic power and Qingdao Caochengshan 49.8 MW wind power connected to the grid for power generation, the installed capacity of clean energy by the State Power Investment Corporation has exceeded 160 million kilowatts, making it the world's largest photovoltaic power generation enterprise

From the northwest desert to the coast of the East China Sea, from high mountain canyons to lowland plains, rows of photovoltaic panels and a wind turbine continue to be connected to the grid for power generation... According to the plan, by 2030, the total installed capacity of large-scale wind and solar power bases with a focus on desert, Gobi, and desert areas will reach 455 million kilowatts.

Independent breakthroughs in key technologies

Currently, China's photovoltaic wind power industry has achieved a huge leap from "following" and "running parallel" to "leading".

Looking back at the development process of the industry, it is not an exaggeration to describe it as "overcoming obstacles and cutting through thorns". "China's new energy technology innovation has gone through three stages: introducing foreign technologies, digesting and absorbing them, and innovating again. Through international cooperation, the gap has been quickly narrowed, drawing on the strengths of others, and ultimately achieving catch-up." said Li Chuangjun, Director of the New Energy and Renewable Energy Department of the National Energy Administration.

As the world's largest wind power generation enterprise, the Xinjiang Dabancheng Wind Farm, built and put into operation by the National Energy Group in 1994, marked the beginning of commercial operation of wind farms in China; In 2010, the 30 MW offshore intertidal wind power project in Rudong, Jiangsu Province, promoted China's wind power generation from land to the ocean; In 2011, Anhui Lai'an's large-scale low wind speed demonstration wind farm promoted the development of a large amount of low wind speed resources; The De Ah wind farm in South Africa, built in 2017, is hailed as a model of energy cooperation among BRICS countries. From land to sea, from high to low wind speeds, from "bringing in" to "going out", the National Energy Group is a microcosm of the development of the wind power industry.

"The industry continues to increase investment in research and development, sparking a wave of innovation, and emerging newcomers such as Longji Green Energy, Jingke Energy, and Tongwei Co., Ltd." Li Zhenguo, President of Longji Green Energy, said that technological innovation is the core driving force for the continuous progress of the photovoltaic industry, especially the key role played by the improvement of battery conversion efficiency, becoming the "main track" for the transformation and upgrading of the photovoltaic industry.

The overall deployment of the country has effectively promoted the initial development of the industry and stimulated the vitality of technological innovation.

Li Chuangjun said that currently, China's wind power industry has achieved a counter surpassing of foreign advanced levels in large-scale units, floating wind power, and other aspects. Key components such as high-power unit spindle bearings and ultra long blades are constantly making breakthroughs. The crystalline silicon photovoltaic technology continues to iterate, and the independently developed perovskite battery has an efficiency of 26.1%, breaking the world record.

In the past decade, the unit kilowatt cost of wind power projects has decreased from 8000 yuan to around 4000 yuan, and the unit kilowatt cost of photovoltaic power generation projects has decreased from 12000 yuan to around 4000 yuan, with reductions of about 50% and 70% respectively.

Strong support from industrial policies

With the support of industrial policies, the photovoltaic wind power market has been booming in the past decade, and a large amount of capital has flooded in, ushering in a golden stage of industry development.

"According to the situation and needs faced at different stages, industrial policies are tailored to the times and circumstances." Du Zhongming said that with renewable energy subsidy policies as the core, industrial policies accelerate the commercialization and maturity of photovoltaic and wind power. With the advancement of technology and the improvement of economy, subsidy funds have gradually declined, reducing the grid electricity prices for wind power 6 times and photovoltaic power 8 times, and ultimately achieving fair grid access, playing a role in "boosting the horse and sending a ride".

After entering the era of parity, the responsibility weight policy for the consumption of renewable energy electricity has once again played a stabilizing role. In May 2019, China officially established a renewable energy electricity consumption guarantee mechanism, setting the minimum scale for new energy development in the era of parity, and ensuring the basic demand.

The technology department and some local governments have also played a crucial role. Some enterprises are facing a shortage of funds in the early stages of development, and the technology department and some local governments have provided significant assistance to help Chinese enterprises surpass their international counterparts in the short term.

In response to the current difficulties and pain points in the development of new energy, in May 2022, the General Office of the State Council forwarded the Implementation Plan for Promoting High quality Development of New Energy in the New Era issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration, proposing 21 specific policy measures, focusing on breaking through the bottlenecks that restrict the leapfrog development of new energy, and ensuring that new energy projects are established quickly, steadily, and well.