Open AccessBalance the wind power generation and transmission—case study in China
Author(s) -
Song Yanqin
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
wind energy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1099-1824
pISSN - 1095-4244
DOI - 10.1002/we.1946
Subject(s) - wind power , electricity , renewable energy , wind speed , electricity generation , environmental economics , environmental science , china , business , meteorology , natural resource economics , engineering , power (physics) , geography , economics , electrical engineering , physics , archaeology , quantum mechanics
In most places in the world, the load center and the best wind resources are located far away from each other. Therefore, electricity generated from wind farms has to be transmitted to the load center over lengthy transmission lines. However, in some cases, lower quality wind resources also available close to load centers. Therefore, decision makers are sometime faced with competing alternatives: building wind farms in areas with higher wind speeds far away from load centers and or building wind farms in areas with lower wind speeds close to load centers. This paper proposes a methodology to help policy makers to develop wind resources cost effectively, balancing wind power generation from best wind resources and transmission of electricity over long distance. The methodology is applied to China, to compare development of high‐quality wind resources in the Three‐North region (north, northwest and northeast) and transmission of electricity to Southeast load centers to the development of lower quality resources closer to the same load centers. The results would help decision makers at the national and provincial levels to optimally develop the country's resources and assess the benefits of renewable energy trade between provinces. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.