China and the UK work together to solve the wind resistance at sea

“Although China proposed the goal of building 5 million kilowatts of offshore wind power during the 12th Five-Year Plan period, due to factors such as technology, policy, and management, the development of offshore wind power is very slow. It is almost impossible to accomplish the '12th Five-Year' goal. Probably.” Shi Lishan, deputy director of the New Energy Division of the National Energy Administration, said on March 18th that “China-UK Offshore Wind Power Case Study Results Release and Technical Exchange Conference” was held. The exchange meeting organized by the National Energy Administration and the British Embassy and organized by the General Institute of Hydropower and Water Conservancy Planning and Design and ITPower in the UK has attracted dozens of companies in the offshore wind industry at home and abroad, especially in China's related fields. It is not difficult to see the market's emphasis on offshore wind power.

Shi Lishan said at the exchange that as of the end of last year, the installed capacity of offshore wind power in the UK had reached nearly 3.6 million kilowatts, which accounted for more than 50% of the world's total. This achievement is not easy. At present, the UK has a relatively complete set of procedures and decision-making mechanisms in terms of technology, management, and decision-making. It has also accumulated rich experience in construction and operation management, and it is indeed worthwhile for China to study well.

As we all know, offshore wind power construction requires high technical difficulties and involves many factors, such as: environment, aquaculture, transportation, landscape and so on. Therefore, its technical selection, decision-making and construction are all very complicated. How to better develop offshore wind power in this context has become a major concern for some energy transition countries.

John Edwards, the Counsellor for Sustainable Growth of the British Embassy in Beijing, said in an interview: “In 2013, offshore wind power in the UK attracted about 10 billion pounds (about 100 billion yuan) in investment. The world’s largest offshore wind power plant is also connected to the UK for power generation. It is estimated that the total installed capacity of offshore wind power in the UK will reach 18 GW by 2020, which will account for about 30% of the total capacity of the country. According to the plan, by 2020, the installed capacity of offshore wind power in China will reach 30 GW, which will exceed that of the United Kingdom. It has become the world's largest offshore wind power. Therefore, Sino-British cooperation in this area contains a great opportunity."

In fact, cooperation between China and the United Kingdom in related fields has long begun. In 2010, China and the United Kingdom established the "China-UK Energy Dialogue" framework. Since then, research exchanges and technical training have been successively carried out. In January 2013, Li Keqiang, who was then vice premier of the State Council, reached a strengthening with the UK when he visited the UK. The unanimous intention of energy cooperation. In order to consolidate and deepen the cooperation results, the Chinese and British energy authorities proposed the development of offshore wind power case studies in China and the UK. At the exchange meeting, China and Britain shared different experiences. Mark Ley-bourne, a senior marine energy expert from British IT Power, a leading consulting company in the field of renewable energy, shared valuable experiences accumulated in the UK. For example, the following problems have occurred in the Sheringham Shoal project. They tried to use floating cranes. Piles are installed, but this method is very sensitive to the weather; land archeological discoveries have extended the cable laying time; need to reduce the impact of wind farms on military radars. At the same time, he also reminded all parties that the reliability of wind turbines is still a potential problem. From June 2009 to September 2011, a total of 376 wind turbine gearboxes failed in this wind power project; in the summer of 2013, Thanet, an offshore wind power project, replaced 16 original gearboxes.

In fact, most of the above-mentioned issues also exist in the construction of Chinese projects. “The current domestic offshore wind power price mechanism needs to be clarified; the development and management of offshore wind power projects needs to be further improved; the level of domestic resources and construction conditions are complex and related technologies are to be treated,” said Wang Minxue, deputy director of the Department of New Energy at the China Hydropower Construction and Planning Institute. Improve; technical standards need to be further improved."

It is not difficult to see that there are indeed many areas in China and the United Kingdom that deserve discussion and cooperation. For the future development of offshore wind power, Shi Lishan said in an interview with this reporter: First, it is necessary to clarify the price policy as soon as possible. Offshore wind power has high technical requirements, complex construction conditions, and large investment demand, which leads to high development costs of offshore wind power. If there is no clear tariff policy, it is difficult to evaluate and make decisions on project construction. Therefore, it is necessary to step up research on the offshore wind power tariff policy in order to provide a relatively stable offshore wind power investment market environment and substantively promote offshore wind power development and construction.

Second, we must strengthen departmental coordination and management. The development of offshore wind power involves the comprehensive utilization of marine resources, and is closely related to transportation, ecological protection, etc. Various departments have different understandings of the development of offshore wind power, and coordination and convergence between departments is not enough. All relevant departments should strengthen communication and coordination, establish an open and transparent mechanism, clarify the key aspects of offshore wind power management and related requirements, improve the efficiency of offshore wind power management, and provide a good environment for the development of offshore wind power.

Third, we must strengthen the construction of technology and standards systems. At present, the offshore wind power infrastructure in China is relatively weak, and the technology and standard system are still not perfect. The evaluation of offshore wind energy resources has not been carried out systematically, and the offshore wind power standard system is not yet perfect. It is necessary to strengthen the technical progress in resources evaluation, engineering design, construction and installation, and operation and maintenance in conjunction with the construction of demonstration projects, etc., and promote the construction of the offshore wind power industry system.

Overall, the Sino-British offshore wind case study has created a long-term discussion and exchange model between the two countries, which has provided a good start for cooperation in offshore wind power between the two countries and laid a foundation for follow-up work. Although offshore wind power construction is still faced with many difficulties, it is believed that with the orderly advancement of the work of all parties, the rapid growth of offshore wind power will be just around the corner.