Wind Energy in China

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CHINA IS A LAND WITH ABUNDANT WIND RESOURCES. According to the latest ofcial release of the national wind energy resource assessment results, 50-m-high wind energy resource potential amounts to about 2,580 GW, of which 2,380 GW is onshore and 200 GW is offshore in the 525-m range of water depth. The areas suitable for developing large-scale wind power include Northeast, Northwest, and North China, as well as coastal areas in the provinces of Jiangsu and Shandong, where wind power potential accounts for about 80% of the wind energy resource potential of the whole country, as shown in Figure 1. (This article does not contain the data and information of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region, and Taiwan region; maps are for illustrative purposes only.)

Construction and Utilization of Wind Power Projects

Chinas wind power has been experiencing rapid development since 2005. During 2005 2010, the cumulative installed capacity of wind power in China increased 35 times, adding 18.93 GW in 2010 (see Figure 2). By the end of 2010, Chinas cumulative installed capacity had reached 44.73 GW, surpassing that of the United States and ranking rst in the world. Large and medium-sized projects with capacities of more than 10 MW have dominated wind power plant construction in China. Especially since 2008, the government has begun to plan and construct a number of 1-GW wind power bases, and even some up to 10 GW. By the end of 2010, the number of wind power plants larger than 100 MW had reached 127, representing 64% of the existing installed capacity. To date, China has the largest cumulative installed, grid-connected, offshore wind power capacity outside Europe. The commission of the three 3-MW offshore wind turbines at the Shanghai Donghai Daqiao offshore wind power plant in September 2009 marked the start of Chinas megawatt-scale offshore wind power utilization. Meanwhile, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Chinas top planner, launched the rst round of concession projects for offshore wind power plants in May 2010, with a total capacity of 1,000 MW. By the end of 2010, the total cumulative installed capacity of offshore wind power in China had reached 142.5 MW. In 2010, Chinas wind power generation was about 50.1 TWh, which accounted for 1.28% of net electricity consumption. The wind power generation within the northeast power grid reached 17 TWh, or 6.0% of net electricity consumption; the wind power generation within the eastern region of the Inner Mongolia power grid reached 5.9 TWh, or 21.1% of the net electricity consumption. In 2010, the average full load hours of wind turbines amounted to 2,082.

Related Policies and Regulatory Framework

The Renewable Energy Law of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) was adopted at the 14th session of the Standing Committee of the Tenth National Peoples Congress on 28 February 2005 and took effect on 1 January 2006. The law
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Status and Prospects

DIGITAL VISION

established the basic legal system for Chinas renewable energy (RE) development and formed a general policy and regulatory framework for promoting renewable energy development and utilization. On the basis of the law, the National Energy Administration (NEA), Ministry of Finance (MoF), State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC), and the other related government authorities successively issued a series of specied policies and regulations on RE generation, covering the denitions and related regulatory measures with respect to priority scheduling and priority purchasing as well as cost sharing among electricity consumers nationwide. Through efforts spanning several years, a series of policies and a regulatory framework to promote RE development have been put in place in China. In order to keep up with the rapid development of RE, the Amendment of the Renewable Energy Law was adopted at the 12th session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National Peoples Congress on 26 December 2009. The amendment emphasized the responsibilities and obligations of central and local governments regarding the surveying of resources and development planning and provided detailed support for the integration of RE generators. The amendment established a dedicated RE development fund, whose sources include both nancing from the central government budget and revenue from a legally authorized levy on electricity consumers nationwide (the RE electricity surcharge). To date, some of the methods supporting the Renewable Energy Law are still under development or revision.

By Liping Jiang, Yongning Chi, Haiyan Qin, Zheyi Pei, Qionghui Li, Mingliang Liu, Jianhua Bai, Weisheng Wang, Shuanglei Feng, Weizheng Kong, and Qiankun Wang
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50 150 100 150 50

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100 150 150 2 100 00 100

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50 0 10 0 15

200 Area of 0 Northeast 20 China of ina ea Ch r A th r 150 No 150 200 200 150 150 Coastal Areas 150 200

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Area of Northwest China 150

200 W/m2 or Above (High) 150200 W/m2 100150 W/m2 50100 W/m2 50 W/m2 or Below (Low) 50 100 150

200 150 100 200150 150 200

200 100

figure 1. Schematic diagram of wind power resources in China.

Project Approval and Management

Authorized by the PRC State Council, NDRC is the price administration of the country and consequently responsible for deciding on and approving RE-generated electricity pricing. NEA has the responsibility for formulating and issuing annual plans, as well as for medium- and long-term wind power development planning and for approving newly built wind power projects and power grid projects. SERC is responsible for supervising the operations of wind power plants and the power grid.

According to the Regulation on Management of RE Generation introduced by NDRC in 2006, wind power projects with capacities of 50 MW and above should be approved by NDRC, and those with capacities below 50 MW should be approved by the local provincial authority reporting to NDRC.

Feed-In Tariffs
Feed-in tariff policy for RE power generation in China has experienced several different periods. Before 2003, the feed-in tariff was determined case by case along with each individual wind power project, based on the power purchase agreement signed between the wind power plant operator and the grid enterprise, approved by the local government, and reported to the National Price Bureau. During 2003 2007, a concession bidding pricing mechanism was introduced. This was meant to be the main pricing mechanism for wind power, along with a feed-in tariff equivalent to the benchmarked local desulfurized coal-red power feed-in tariff plus a subsidy of no more than CNY 0.25 per kWh. On 1 August 2009, NDRC issued the Notice on Price Policy Improvement for Onshore Wind Power, which instituted a xed-benchmark pricing system for onshore wind power in place of the concession bidding pricing mechanism. This new mechanism created four categories of feed-in tariff, based on the regional wind resource and difference
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50,000 13,803 25,805 40,000 MW 30,000 20,000 10,000 0 507 1,267 1,288 2,555 Added Installed Capacity Accumulative Installed Capacity 3,311 5,866

2005

2006

2007

2008

6,154 12,020

2009

2010

figure 2. Wind power capacity of China, 20052010.

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18,928

44,733

100

100

in geographical conditions. The four benchmark feed-in tariffs were set up correspondingly as CNY0.51/kWh, CNY0.54/kWh, CNY0.58/kWh, and CNY0.61/kWh (see Table 1 and Figure 3). They reflect the concept that the better the average wind conditions are, the lower the tariff level should be.

table 1. Benchmark feed-in tariffs for onshore wind power. Resource Zone Category I Benchmark Feed-In Tariff (CNY/kWh) 0.51 Administrative Areas Included Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region except Chifeng, Tongliao, Xinganmeng, Hulunbeier; Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region: Urumqi, Yili, Karamay, Shihezi Hebei Province: Zhangjiakou, Chengde; Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region: Chifeng, Tongliao, Xinganmeng, Hulunbeier Gansu Province: Zhangye, Jiayuguan, Jiuquan Jilin Province: Baicheng, Songyuan; Heilongjiang Province: Jixi, Shuangyashan, Qitaihe, Suihua, Yichun, Daxinganling region; Gansu Province except Zhangye, Jiayuguan, Jiuquan; Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region except Urumqi, Yili, Changji, Karamay, Shihezi; Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Other parts of China not mentioned above

Category II

0.54

Mechanism of RE Electricity Surcharge

According to the cost-sharing principles determined by the Renewable Energy Law, the excess of the renewable energy power generation project feed-in tariff over the local desulfurized coalpower benchmark price and the excess of the overall cost of the independent REbased power system project over the

Category III

0.58

Category IV

0.61

Category I: 0.51 CNY/kWh Category II: 0.54 CNY/kWh Category III: 0.58 CNY/kWh Category IV: 0.61 CNY/kWh

figure 3. Benchmark feed-in tariff zones for onshore wind power.

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table 2. Concession bidding of wind power projects in China. Type Onshore Onshore Onshore Onshore Onshore Offshore Bidding Time September 2003 September 2004 August 2005 August 2006 November 2007 September 2010 Projects 2 3 3 3 4 4 Capacity (MW) 200 300 450 700 950 1,000 Bidding Prices Range (CNY/kWh) 0.43650.5013 0.38200.5190 0.46160.6000 0.40560.5006 0.46800.5510 0.62350.7370

local provincial average retail tariff, as well as a calculated cost for RE power integration, should be subsidized by an RE electricity surcharge. This surcharge is currently imposed on electricity customers nationwide and applies to about 85% of the total electricity consumption. NDRC and SERC jointly release a report on the RE Electricity Surcharge Levy and Subsidy Arrangement to the public periodically every year, since 2006. The RE electricity surcharge was raised from CNY 0.1 cent/kWh in 2006 to CNY 0.4 cent/kWh in 2009. The total RE electricity surcharge in 2009 was about CNY12 billion, but this amount covered only about 70% of the needed subsidies for RE generation. It appears that the RE electricity surcharge decit will be enlarged with the rapid development of RE in the coming years.

projects located in the coastal area of Jiangsu, totaling 1 GW, was completed. Table 2 summarizes these developments.

Technical Standards for Wind Power Grid Connection, Operation, and Management
A lack of technical standards and the absence of regulations for wind power integration were recognized as two of the main issues encumbering Chinas wind power development, especially with the rapid growth of wind power within the past ten years. In December 2010, NEA nally issued a regulation, Tentative Management Procedures for GridConnection Testing of Wind Turbines, requiring that, from 1 January 2011, wind turbines within newly approved wind power plants must pass grid-connection testing and comply with the relevant technical requirements before they can be permitted to connect to the grid and begin operation. In March 2011, NEA issued the Management Procedures on Wind Power Forecasting and Coordinated Operation with the Power System (a draft guide) to identify the explicit responsibilities of different stakeholders and specify system requirements and supervision. Certain other, related technical standards and regulations are still under discussion.

Concession Bidding of Wind Power Projects

In order to promote development of wind power and determine the real costs of wind power generation, the Chinese government decided to implement a concession bidding mechanism for some large-scale wind power projects in 2003. From 2003 to 2007, ve concession biddings of onshore wind power were conducted, which covered 15 projects and 2.6 GW. In 2010, the concession bidding process for four offshore wind power

Development of Wind Turbine Industry and Technology

Status of the Wind Turbine Industry
Thanks to the great support of policy incentives and huge market demand during the past ten years, the wind turbine manufacturing industry has developed rapidly in China, with a full industry supply chain being formed. By the end of 2010, 88% of the domestic market was occupied by Chinese wind turbine manufacturers, compared with 30% in 2005. Wind turbines, blades, gearboxes, and other components have been exported to countries in North America, Africa, Europe, and Southeast Asia. DEC, Goldwind, Sinovel, and United Power were listed among the top ten global turbine suppliers in 2010, and three more Chinese domestic manufacturers were included in the top 15 (see Figure 4). In terms of the cumulative installed capacity in China, there were 16 wind turbine manufacturers with a market share of more than 1% at the end of 2010. Among them, ve foreign manufacturers shared 17.5% of the market, with
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14% 12% 10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% United Power MingYang Shanghai Electric Vestas Sinovel GE GoldWind Enercon Gamesa DEC Sulon Siemens Nordex Repower XEMC

figure 4. The top 15 global wind turbine manufacturers and their shares of the global market (source: Chinese Wind Energy Association).
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750.4

618.3

695.2

The unit size of wind turbines has been increasing in recent years. Before 2005, wind turbines with unit capacities of 250 kW, 600 kW, and 850 kW dominated the Chinese market. Imported MW-level wind turbines were introduced into the Chinese market during the rst and second concession bidding. About 51% of the annual newly installed market was held by MW-level wind turbines in 2007, with an average rated capacity of 1,048.9 kW, which increased to 1,466.8 kW in 2010 when the MW-level wind turbine became a mainstream product. Figure 5 shows the growth of wind turbine unit capacity from 2000 to 2010. More recently, multi-MW wind turbine production and application in China has made considerable progress. The 3-MW wind turbine has been put into batch production and installed successfully; furthermore, a prototype 5-MW wind turbine has been produced. The application of both gearbox drive and direct-drive technology is popular. As in the global market, the doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) with multistage gearbox drive train has become a mainstream technology, with mature development and full utilization in China. During the past ve yearsfrom 2006 to 2010high-speed gearbox drive technology took a 70% market share in China; meanwhile, direct-drive technology has also been developing steadily, with its market share growing from 0.1% in 2006 to 21.5% in 2010. Offshore wind technology has also made great progress in China. The 3-MW wind turbine manufactured by Sinovel and installed in the Shanghai Donghai Bridge offshore wind project in March 2009 was a milestone demonstrating Chinas success in MW-scale offshore wind turbine research and manufacture.

kW

2000

2001

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608.4

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852

Status of Wind Power Technology

790.2

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921.7

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7,285 MW of capacity, and 11 Chinese domestic manufacturers shared 75.7% of the market, with 33,962 MW of capacity. Of these 16, Sinovel, Gold Wind, DEC, Vestas, and United Power are the top ve in order of market share.

figure 5. Average rated capacity of newly installed wind turbines in China, 20002010.

With the rapid growth of Chinese installed capacity which has approximately doubled annually during the past ve yearsthe impact of wind power became a prominent issue in power system operation and security in some areas. In order to ensure the stable and reliable operation of wind power plants, certain new technical requirements were added to the revised grid code, which was drafted mainly by CEPRI, China LongYuan Power Group Corporation, and the Electric Power Research Institute of Southern Power Grid, in collaboration with China Power Engineering Consulting (Group) Corporation.

Grid Code Requirements for Wind Power Plants

Figure 6 shows the terminology and denitions used in the grid code for wind power plants, points of connection (POCs), active power, and reactive power, as well as for the transmission lines of wind power plants. The following requirements were included in the revised grid code: Active power control: A wind power plant should have the ability to control active power according to orders issued by the dispatching center of the power system. In order to fulll this control function, a wind power plant active power control system must be installed. Reactive power capacity and voltage control: For a single wind power plant directly connected to the public network, the capacitive reactive power compensation should cover not only the reactive power loss of the wind power plant collector system and the step-up transformers but also half of the reactive power loss of the transmission line in the case of heavy loading. In the case of light loading, the inductive reactive power compensation should cover half of the capacitive charging reactive power of the transmission line. For large wind power clusters, the capacitive reactive power devices should compensate all the reactive power loss of the transmission line in the case of heavy loading; in the
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Grid Code and Grid-Connection Procedures

The rst Chinese grid code presenting technical requirements and specifying procedures for wind power integrationGB/Z 19963-2005, Technical Rule for Connecting Wind Power Plant with Power Grid , drafted by the China Electric Power Research Institute (CEPRI) and managed by the China Electricity Council (CEC)was issued on 12 December 2005 by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine (AQSIQ) and the Standardization Administration of China (SAC). At the beginning of the grid code formulation procedure, the technical requirements for grid-connected plants were moderate in some aspects, given the lower wind penetration actually achieved and the technological limitations of the various wind turbine manufacturers.
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2010

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Transmission Line of Wind Power Plant Active Power P Q

High-Voltage Bus (Point of Connection)

Reactive Power Step-Up Transformer Collection System ...

Wind Turbine

Wind Power Plant

dynamically during a balanced system fault. The dynamic reactive current injected into the power system from a wind power plant should be equal to 1.5 (0.9 UT) IN, where 0.2 # UT # 0.9 and where IN is the rated current in per unit of wind power plant and UT is the voltage in per unit at the POC of the wind power plant.

.....

.....

Grid-Connection Testing
Contents of testing: Figure 8

Voltage at Point of Connection (p u.)

shows the main areas of wind power plant and wind turbine testing; these include wind turbine type testing, wind figure 6. Wind power terminology and definitions in the grid code. turbine grid-connection case of light loading, the inductive reactive power detesting, and wind power plant grid-connection testvices should compensate all the charging capacitive reing. Grid-connection testing of wind power plants active power of the transmission line. The wind power should comply with State Grid Corporation of China plant should regulate the voltage of the POC so that it (SGCC) Enterprise Standard Q/GDW 392-2009, remains within 97107% of nominal voltage when the Technical Rule for Connecting Wind Power Plants system voltage is within the normal operating range. with the Power Grid, which presents requirements for Low-voltage ride-through (LVRT): The requirements wind power plants regarding power quality, active and of wind power plant low-voltage ride-through are reactive power control capability, LVRT, and so on. LVRT testing: International experience has shown shown in Figure 7. that wind power plant LVRT capability relies greatly If the voltage at the POC of the wind power plant is higher on the LVRT capability of individual wind turbines. than the voltage prole, drops to 20% of the nominal voltCEPRI has made substantial progress in the LVRT age with the duration for 625 ms and recovers to 90% of the testing of wind turbines, developing (in cooperation nominal voltage within two seconds, which arose from the with FGH Germany) the rst mobile wind turbine grid fault and is shown in Figure 7, all wind turbines within LVRT test facility in China. the wind power plant shall remain connected to the system without tripping. The active power output of the connected wind turbines Grid-Connection Procedures, must be continuously restored to the original value after Including LVRT Verification fault clearance and with a gradient of at least 10% of the According to Q/GDW 392-2009, the entire wind power plant should have LVRT capability and other controllability. In rated power per second. Wind power plants located in 1-GW and larger wind many countries, modeling and simulation are used for the power clusters should be designed to support reactive power verication of wind power plant LVRT capability. Based on the LVRT testing results, modeling of the wind turbine can be carried out and veried. Based on the veried wind turbine 1.2 model, the modeling of the whole wind power plant can then Voltage Dip Caused by Grid Fault 1.1 be established, and the LVRT capability of the wind power 1 0.9 plant can be veried through power system simulation.
0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 1 Wind Turbine Must Not Trip Wind Turbine May Trip

Main Issues of Wind Power Integration

Flexibility of Power System Operations
4

0 0.625 1 2 Time (s)

figure 7. Wind power plants: LVRT capability requirement.

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From the power system perspective, the big barrier in China to accommodation of large-scale wind power integration is poor system operational exibility, since the major form of generation in China is the coal-red power plant and the exibility of hydropower in China is limited (this is due to the high proportion of run-of-river power plants whose responsibilities
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include ood control, agricultural irrigation, shipping, and so on). Wind Turbine Type Testing By the end of 2010, total cumulative installed generation capacity Power Performance in China was 966 GW, of which the installed capacity of coal-red Noise plants accounted for 66.9% but natural gasred and oil-red genLoad eration accounted for only 3.6%. Hydropower (including pumped Power Quality Power Quality storage at 15.3 GW or 1.5%) accounted for 22.4% (see Figure 9). LVRT LVRT The situation in north, northeastern, and northwestern China, Active Power/Reactive Active Power/Reactive where the abundant wind resources Power Controllability Power Controllability are located, has been even worse during the winter. Winter is a seaFrequency/Voltage Frequency/Voltage Compliance Compliance son of heavy heat demand, and the power generation output of Antiinterference Antiinterference the coal-red combined heat and Capability Capability power (CHP) plants is determined Wind Power Plant Wind Turbine by heating demand. Therefore, the Grid Connection Testing Grid Connection Testing systems ability to accommodate large-scale wind power is dramatically reduced in winter. Take figure 8. Contents of grid-connection testing of wind power plants and wind northeastern China as an exam- turbines. ple: it becomes more difcult to accommodate a high wind penetration because of the lower wind power integration and accommodation. As in Europe, regulation capability of coal-red plants in winter and spring, where it has been necessary to develop dedicated power corridors and grid-connection projects to integrate large-scale offwhen the wind blows strongest. The relatively low capacity of the tie lines in the regional shore wind power plants, it is necessary for large-scale wind power grids results in interregional power transmission power plants located in remote regions of northeastern and congestion and a shortfall of mutual power-balancing sup- northwestern China to connect to high-voltage transmission port capability, thus reducing the capability of the whole lines in order to send energy out to load centers. For exampower system to accommodate wind power. Table 3 shows ple, the Ganhekou wind power project in Gansu Province the load, wind power capacity, and tie-line capacity of north- consists of several 200-MW wind power plants. Several eastern and northwestern China, where there is high wind 330-kV dedicated wind power substations, each of which penetration but low load. In some areas of northeastern China (e.g., the eastern region of Inner MonOther golia Autonomous Region, Jilin 0.3 0.0% Province, and Liaoning Province) Wind and northwestern China (e.g., 29.6 3.1% Gansu province and Xinjiang Coal-Fired Uygur Autonomous Region), wind Nuclear 646.6 Thermal Power 10.8 66.9% power integration is confronting 709.7 1.1% signicant challenges due to the 73% Hydro poor exibility of the system, low Gas and 216.1 Oil-Fired load, and limited tie-line capacity. 22.4% 35.2

Transmission for Large-Scale Wind Power

A higher-voltage transmission system with larger power capability is being developed for improved
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3.6% Other Thermal Power 27.9 2.9%

figure 9. Existing Chinese grid-connected generation capacity, in GW (source: CEC).

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table 3. Tie-line capacity in northeastern and northwestern China power grids in 2010. Max Load (MW) 46,835 50,503 Wind Power Installed Capacity (MW) 9,208 4,272 Capacity/ Maximum Load 19.7% 8.5% Max Transmission Capacity (MW) 3,000 1,110 3,000

Region Northeast Northwest

Tie Lines To north: Gaoling (back-to-back HVdc) To center: Lingbao (back-to-back HVdc) Debao (HVdc)

collects the output of two or three wind power plants, are connected to the main 750-kV system to deliver the large quantity of wind power produced by wind farms located at Ganhekou to the northwestern power grid. According to SGCC statistics, by the end of 2010, 23,200 km of transmission line for wind power grid connection had been built, of which 58.1% (13,450 km) is rated at 220 kV and above. Figure 10 shows the proportion of these transmission lines rated at each of several voltage levels. Based on the evaluation of wind resource and site conditions, NEA has put forward an ambitious plan and launched the construction of eight 10-GW-level wind power bases (see Figure 11). According to this plan, SGCC has carried out a comprehensive integration study for each wind power base, including an assessment of system accommodation capability and wind power trading markets, as well as the power delivery plan. The study concluded that: Wind power in Shandong and Jiangsu provinces should be accommodated within the local provinces. Wind power in Hebei Province should be sent out to the northern, eastern, and central China power grids in addition to the Beijing, Tianjin, and Tangshan power grids. Wind power in the other ve bases should be sent out to the northern, eastern, and central China grids through interprovincial or interregional tie lines.

The eight large-scale wind power bases being established will account for more than 70 GW of the 100 GW of wind capacity called for by 2015 in the national wind power development plan. Of this 70 GW, 42 GW will be delivered through interprovincial or interregional tie lines. Furthermore, when wind power installed capacity in China reaches 160 GW, these eight bases will provide more than 75% of total wind capacity, and the wind power delivered across provinces or regions will reach 70 GW. With such large-scale development planned for the future, additional grid expansion and reinforcement are needed.

Role of Wind Power Forecasting

Accurate wind power forecasting is the foundation for increasing the precision of power dispatching and enhancing the ability of the power system to accommodate wind power. It is also helpful in order to decrease the needed reserve capacity, improve the economy of the power system as a whole, and thus reduce the cost of wind power development. Government has provided signicant policy, regulatory, and nancial support to facilitate innovation to increase the precision of wind power forecasting and promote better forecasting technologies. The Ministry of Science and Technology led two national science and technology support programs, Development and Demonstration of Wind Power Forecasting Systems and Research on Key Technologies for a Wind/PV/Storage/ Transmission Joint Demonstration Project. The NEA conducted a study on the policy aspects of coordination and management of wind power forecasting and the power system. The National Meteorological Administration developed a numerical weather-forecasting model with 1-km horizontal resolution for the Jiuquan wind power base in Gansu Province. SGCC set up the Operations Center for Numerical Weather Forecasting at CEPRI for wind power forecasting, based on massively parallel computing and using more than 4,000 cores. The center is expected to eventually incorporate 10,000 cores. So far, wind power forecasting service providers have mastered the technology of short-term forecasting methods, including physical, statistical, and hybrid methods, as well as ultra-short-term forecasting methods based on real-time observed wind and power data. In November 2008, the rst wind power forecasting system was put into operation at the Jilin electric dispatching center. By the end of 2010, the wind power forecasting system covered more than 20 GW
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110 kV and Below, 9,703 km

750 kV, 1,694 km 500 kV, 2,786 km 330 kV, 475 km

220 kV, kV 8,494 km

figure 10. Wind power grid connection transmission lines installed through 2010, by voltage type.
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of wind capacity, or 60% of total installed capacity. The use of wind power forecasting provides a strong support for increasing the ability of the power system to accommodate wind power.

Northeast Jilin Inner Mongolia West Inner Mongolia East Hami Jiuquan

Power System Dispatch and Control Procedures

Hebei Shandong Chinas power dispatch system Northwest follows an integrated dispatching and hierarchy management North, Jiangsu Tibet mechanism, which means that Center, East of lower-level dispatching centers China are subordinate to higher-level ones, while each level has its own responsibilities. Wind power disSouth patching follows the same mechanism, as shown in Table 4. There are ve levels for dispatching centers in China, including a national center (the National Electric Power figure 11. Schematic diagram of eight wind power bases and their associated Dispatching and Communication power flows. Center, or NEPDCC), six regional centers, 31 provincial centers, 374 municipal-level centers, plant control and monitoring systems. Grid operators conseand 2,057 county-level centers. quently established the means to access wind power operation On the other hand, wind power and other renewables are information in parallel with the regular system information. given rst priority in dispatching under normal conditions of Essential operating information is sent to the system dispatchsystem security and reliability, according to the Renewable ing center so that the dispatcher is aware of real-time operaEnergy Law and its related regulations. The main strategies tional status. To date, all grid-connected wind power plants available to the dispatching centers are to adjust the annual, have been included in the real-time monitoring system of the monthly, daily, and even real-time dispatching schedules to local, provincial, regional, and national dispatching centers. facilitate the exibility of conventional power generators and Moreover, NEPDCC is able to access real-time wind power maximize tie-line transmission capacity among the regions. operation information from the regional and provincial grids. Meanwhile, authorities such as NEA and SERC have It is clear that the integrated dispatching mechanism in emphasized supporting regulations for building wind power China plays an important role in terms of accommodating

table 4. Levels and responsibilities of dispatching centers in China. Dispatching Center National (NEPDCC) Dispatching Scope Ultra-high-voltage power grid; tie lines across regions; electric generators transmitting electricity across regions (large thermal or hydropower plants) 500/330-kV power grid; all the tie lines across provinces; pumped-storage power station; some regulation and emergency power plants directly connected to 500/330-kV power grid 500/330-kV terminal substations and power plants, except for the ones controlled by upper-level dispatching centers in the province; 220-kV power grid 220-kV and smaller substations and local power plants, except for the ones controlled by upper-level dispatching centers 110-kV and smaller substations and local power plants, except for the ones controlled by upper-level dispatching centers Responsibility for Wind Power Dispatching the wind power and transmitting electricity across regions Dispatching the wind power and transmitting electricity across provinces in the region Dispatching the wind power within the province Dispatching the wind power at the city level Not dispatching the wind power
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Regional

Provincial

Municipal level County level

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Wind power will continue its rapid development in the coming decades, due to Chinas commitment to energy efficiency and carbon dioxide emission reduction.
large-scale wind power development along with rapid growth and electrical balancing in the wider area network. lish a good base of operating knowledge that can provide useful insights for other countries and regions in the world.

Outlook for Chinas Wind Power Development

Wind power will continue its rapid development in the coming decades, due to Chinas commitment to energy efciency and carbon dioxide emission reduction. During the 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Copenhagen, the Chinese government promised to devote major resources to developing renewable and nuclear energy to ensure that by 2020, consumption of nonfossil fuel power will account for 15% of the countrys total primary energy consumption and the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP will be reduced by 4045% as compared with the emission level of 2005. The Chinese government accordingly has decided to dedicate a supplementary investment of CNY500 billion to developing RE and nuclear power over the next ten years. It appears that RE may assume even greater signicance than previously thought as a consequence of the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan. Preliminary analysis indicates that the contribution rate of wind power to the 15% goal is about 10%, which means wind power capacity must reach at least 150 GW by 2020. This in turn means that in the years 20102020, the growth rate of wind power installed capacity will be kept at least at 14%, or 12 GW of annually added capacity. According to Chinas 12th ve-year plan, the generation of nonfossil fuel power will account for 11.4% of the countrys total primary energy consumption by 2015, instead of 8.2% as in 2005. By 2015, there will be about 100 GW of wind power, which could displace the equivalent of 430 million tons of coal and reduce CO2 emissions by 1.2 billion tons annually, contributing 5% to achieving the emission reduction goal. We believe that the experience and success of China in large-scale wind power development will be a valuable contribution to the development of global wind power utilization. With the gradual construction of large-scale wind power bases and the continued technical progress of domestic wind turbine technology, Chinas manufacturing enterprises will maintain the growth of quantity as well as quality. Apart from supplying the domestic market, these companies will provide excellent equipment and service to the global market. At the same time, the experience of solving the large number of technology and management challenges faced by China, including the lack of system exibility, long-distance transmission, and large-scale wind power development, will estab46
IEEE power & energy magazine

For Further Reading

Amendment of Renewable Energy Law of Peoples Republic of China, State Council, Dec. 26, 2009. CREIA, GWEC. (2010, Oct.). Greenpeace. China Wind Power Outlook 2010 [Online]. Available: http://www.gwec. net/leadmin/documents/test2/wind%20report0919.pdf D. Sheng, H. Dai, M. Chen, and Y. Chi, Discussion of wind farm integration in China, in Proc. Transmission and Distribution Conf. Exhibition: Asia and Pacific, 2005, p. 1. Chinese Wind Energy Association. (2011). Statistics of Installed Wind Power Capacity in China 2010 [Online]. Available: http://www.cwea.org.cn/download/display_info. asp?cid=2&sid=&id=39 IEA. (2011). Integration of RenewablesStatus and Challenges in China [Online]. Available: http://www.iea. org/papers/2011/Integration_of_Renewables.pdf Y. Zhang, Z. Duan, and X. Liu, Comparison of grid code requirements with wind turbine in China and Europe, in Proc. 2010 Asia-Pacific Power and Energy Engineering Conference (APPEEC ), pp. 14.

Biographies
Liping Jiang is with the State Grid Energy Research Institute, China. Yongning Chi is with the China Electric Power Research Institute, China. Haiyan Qin is with the Chinese Wind Energy Association, China. Zheyi Pei is with the National Electric Power Dispatching and Communication Center, China. Qionghui Li is with the State Grid Energy Research Institute, China. Mingliang Liu is with the Chinese Wind Energy Association, China. Jianhua Bai is with the State Grid Energy Research Institute, China. Weisheng Wang is with the China Electric Power Research Institute, China. Shuanglei Feng is with the China Electric Power Research Institute, China. Weizheng Kong is with the State Grid Energy Research Institute, China. Qiankun Wang is with the State Grid Energy Research Institute, China. p&e
november/december 2011