Offshore wind industry aircraft carrier has not set sail

Right now, land-based wind power is plagued by power grid power shortages, and the industry is hoping that offshore wind power will enter a fast-developing track to solve the industrial downturn. However, the China Securities Journal reporter was informed that the tender for the first round of 1.2 million kilowatts of offshore wind power projects completed by the country in September 2010 has not been started for more than a year, and the long-brewed second round of offshore wind power tendering is temporarily difficult to start.

According to the reporter's understanding, the direct cause of the poor start-up of the project lies in the fact that the national wind power development plan and the positioning of the national marine functional area still need to be effectively linked. On the whole, a series of factors such as the unpredictability of project profitability caused by excessive investment in project construction costs and the combination of wind power equipment suppliers entering the sea have become short-term and long-term problems for the industry. The domestic industrial aircraft carrier for offshore wind power is experiencing unsatisfactory sailing. Has hit the rocks.

Project planning has been disrupted “The biggest problem encountered at present in offshore wind power is that the national energy planning and national marine planning still need to be effectively linked.” Xie Changjun, general manager of Longyuan Power Company, held the “2012 China Clean Power Summit” on February 23rd. Bluntly.

It is understood that Longyuan Power won the bid for the 200,000 Jiangsu Dafeng project for the first round of offshore wind power bidding in September 2010. It has so far failed to obtain the “road” of the State Oceanic Administration due to the problems related to the acquisition of sea areas. According to the requirements, all offshore wind power project construction plans must conform to the national marine functional area planning. This newly issued regulation makes the first batch of four projects that did not consider the marine functional area planning at the time of the previous project location have not been approved by the State Oceanic Administration.

One policy person, who did not want to be named, told the China Securities Journal that just in January 2010, less than a month after the first round of offshore wind tenders was announced, the state conducted a new round of adjustments to the marine functional zoning. The results of this adjustment have thrown a "cold water" in the hands of all electric power companies that were immersed in the successful bid.

A person in charge of Huaneng New Energy Company told the China Securities Journal that according to the new marine functional area orientation, the company’s first batch of offshore 300,000-kilowatt offshore wind projects will be passed through an 8 km long rare animal protection area. “The transmission lines cannot be erected over the protected areas, which means that we must redesign the wind farms, otherwise the State Oceanic Administration will not approve them.” The responsible person stated that the new design plan has been made, but it is still uncertain whether or not it can pass.

According to the reporter's understanding, the problems encountered by bid winners of other projects, such as CPI and State Power subordinate Luneng Group, are that the successful project has been positioned as a reclamation area or an eco-tourism area. All previous project design and construction plans have been disrupted.

Xie Changjun told reporters that he hopes that the 200,000 project won by Longyuan will be successfully approved by the State Oceanic Administration in the second half of the year and construction will start in time.

It is difficult for the high cost and profitability to “modify the design and construction plan for wind farms, which will in turn bring about a substantial increase in the total project investment cost budget.” The above-mentioned person in charge said that, for example, some projects will require the addition of submarine cables, which can only use foreign products. The cost burden will increase significantly.

At present, enterprises are struggling to cope with the troubles caused by the adjustment of the marine functional areas and have no time to worry about too much. However, most experts told reporters that in the long run, the cost of high-value projects that are much higher than land-based wind power, and the difficulty of operation and maintenance in the later period will increase the cost burden of offshore wind power projects.

The relevant person in charge of Guangxi Yinhe Avantis told the China Securities Journal that due to factors such as poor resource conditions and technological level, the cost of domestic offshore wind power is at least compared with the current cost of land-based wind power at 7,000 yuan/Watt. Doubled, "Because the power and volume of offshore wind turbines are larger than those of land-based wind turbines, the input of optical unit equipment has to be 5% to 10% higher than land."

Bai Jianhua, deputy chief economist of the State Grid Energy Research Institute, told reporters that the unit cost is only a small part of the wind farm construction cost, and other wind power facilities such as the base station, cables and other supporting facilities invest more, and also include the fan shipment. ,installation fee. It is understood that wind power facilities and installation costs account for about 79% of the total wind farm construction cost, while the installation cost of land wind power infrastructure accounts for only about 40% of the total.

From an international experience point of view, a recent study by the US Offshore Wind Development Authority of Virginia shows that the total cost of generating electricity for offshore wind power in the United States is approximately US$243 per 1,000 kWh, while for the same electricity, the cost of onshore wind power is only 97%. Dollars.

Regarding the question of how the profitability prospects of the first batch of offshore wind power projects encountered various plights, most experts said that they could not predict. “At present, the internal capital return rate of domestic land-based wind power projects with relatively mature operating experience is about 10% on average, and offshore wind power projects are probably lower than this.” Xie Changjun said.