9 CHINA’S PROMOTION OF WIND AND SOLAR POWER …
213
While most of China’s bountiful hydroelectric resources are located
in the southwest, the country’s wind and solar resources are concentrated in the vast but sparsely populated northwestern and northern
area, exacerbating the imbalanced distribution of energy resources that
constantly afflicts the economically vibrant eastern (coastal) area with
energy shortage. China abounds in wind resources, with potential wind
energy resources on land, measured at 50 m above ground level, estimated about 2380 GW (China Meteorological Administration 2010).
The most important wind-rich area in China is the long inland belt
including northwestern Gansu, Xinjiang and Ningxia Province, and
northern Inner Mongolia and Hebei Province. Inner Mongolia alone
accounts for about one-third of China’s total installed wind power
capacity. For solar resources, strongest solar radiations are found in
northwestern Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai and Gansu Province, while the
southeast provinces, China’s economic powerhouse, have much lower
solar radiation amount per square meter.
The overconcentration of conventional coal, hydroelectricity and
emerging wind and solar resources in the western part of Chinese territory has imposed enormous pressure upon the country’s transmission
networks, spurring China to launch the immense West-East Electricity
Transmission Project that aims to transmit power from electricity-rich
west regions to the economically prosperous eastern areas. Nevertheless, inefficiency in northwest provinces is still astronomically high and
the NDRC has realized the urgency of building more ultra-high-voltage
(UHV) transmission lines to carry electricity long distances, and to position new turbines close to major metropolises (The New York Times 2017,
p. A8). The inability of grid system to incorporate intermittent renewable electricity in China has become a more severe bottleneck due to
the lack of competitiveness of state-owned grid companies, the overinvestment in renewable power projects, the overcapacity of China’s power
industry as a whole and remote locations of many wind and solar power
plants. The backward and aging grid system has resulted in insufficient
inter-grid exchange capacity and under-investment in smart grid, an ideal
solution to the intermittency problem associated with renewables. The
Chinese government put its strategic focus upon UHV power transmission rather than smart grids, an ideal intra-regional solution to the
intermittency problem associated with renewables. China has decided to
upgrade transmission lines and build the world’s most capable UHV
213
While most of China’s bountiful hydroelectric resources are located
in the southwest, the country’s wind and solar resources are concentrated in the vast but sparsely populated northwestern and northern
area, exacerbating the imbalanced distribution of energy resources that
constantly afflicts the economically vibrant eastern (coastal) area with
energy shortage. China abounds in wind resources, with potential wind
energy resources on land, measured at 50 m above ground level, estimated about 2380 GW (China Meteorological Administration 2010).
The most important wind-rich area in China is the long inland belt
including northwestern Gansu, Xinjiang and Ningxia Province, and
northern Inner Mongolia and Hebei Province. Inner Mongolia alone
accounts for about one-third of China’s total installed wind power
capacity. For solar resources, strongest solar radiations are found in
northwestern Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai and Gansu Province, while the
southeast provinces, China’s economic powerhouse, have much lower
solar radiation amount per square meter.
The overconcentration of conventional coal, hydroelectricity and
emerging wind and solar resources in the western part of Chinese territory has imposed enormous pressure upon the country’s transmission
networks, spurring China to launch the immense West-East Electricity
Transmission Project that aims to transmit power from electricity-rich
west regions to the economically prosperous eastern areas. Nevertheless, inefficiency in northwest provinces is still astronomically high and
the NDRC has realized the urgency of building more ultra-high-voltage
(UHV) transmission lines to carry electricity long distances, and to position new turbines close to major metropolises (The New York Times 2017,
p. A8). The inability of grid system to incorporate intermittent renewable electricity in China has become a more severe bottleneck due to
the lack of competitiveness of state-owned grid companies, the overinvestment in renewable power projects, the overcapacity of China’s power
industry as a whole and remote locations of many wind and solar power
plants. The backward and aging grid system has resulted in insufficient
inter-grid exchange capacity and under-investment in smart grid, an ideal
solution to the intermittency problem associated with renewables. The
Chinese government put its strategic focus upon UHV power transmission rather than smart grids, an ideal intra-regional solution to the
intermittency problem associated with renewables. China has decided to
upgrade transmission lines and build the world’s most capable UHV