Integrating offshore wind into China’s power grid can further achieve carbon neutrality

Offshore wind energy offers a promising solution to China’s coastal decarbonization challenge. China’s coastal provinces, despite their small land area, are home to 76% of the population; they are also responsible for 72% of total national electricity consumption and 70% of total CO2₂ emissions. Converting coastal areas away from fossil fuels is one of China’s core challenges to achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, and offshore wind power could hold the key.

New research published on natural communication develop a bottom-up model to test the grid’s ability to respond to changes in renewable energy and optimal design investment plan for offshore wind power.

New paper from the Harvard-China Project on Energy, Economics, and Environment, a US-China collaborative research program based at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS), and collaborators at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in China, were among the first to analyze renewable energy interprovincial grid integration opportunities. with a high level of foreign investment.

China’s onshore wind investment, which accounts for more than 80% of national commitments and 30% of global wind power, both produces significantly less output in winter and limits the flexibility of the grid. Other non-carbon energy sources such as solar and nuclear power There are also financial, geographical and safety constraints. On the other hand, offshore wind can provide a more optimal source of renewable energy.

“The results indicate that at least 1,000 GW of Seabreeze Michael McElroy, Professor of Environmental Studies at SEAS and chair of the Harvard-China Project, explains that capacity can be available at a lower inductive cost than the cost of nuclear power plants in China. . more than double the government’s current target.”

To create the optimal deployment plan for offshore wind, researchers led by Professor Xinyu Chen of HUST, an alumnus of the Harvard-China Project, designed a model that evaluates the resolution the top prize of the provinces of China. The model combines sophisticated analysis of offshore wind resources and economics; consider the micro-location of wind farms with distribution system optimization; and simulate hourly power system needs, determining optimal plans for the province’s investments in offshore installation, transmission and storage.

The modeled system will double existing offshore wind investments by 2030. It also improves on the province’s existing offshore wind deployment plans, shifting some of the investment from Guangdong to Guangdong. provinces such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang. As a result, the plan could boost the national renewable energy penetration rate from 31.5% to 40%, at a lower cost than anticipated in the current plan. By 2050, offshore wind capacity in China could reach 1500 GW.

“China has abundant wind resources and favorable sea depth conditions for offshore wind energy development,” said Xinyang Guo, PhD student of the Harvard-China Project. candidate at HUST, and the first author of the paper. “The deployment of offshore wind farms in China can not only provide the largest market for the global wind industry in the next decade, but can also provide an important platform for China’s transformation.” from fossil fuel-based energy systems.”