In order to improve the environment, everyone has a consensus - that is to reduce the use of coal and gradually replace it with clean energy.
But it is not easy to achieve. Let's look at some sets of data:
In developed countries such as Europe and the United States, the utilization rate of coal does not exceed 20%; but in my country, it is close to 70%.
In 2015, my country's nearly 800,000 square kilometers of land used a quarter of the world's coal.
Just last year, my country's installed capacity of wind power equipment became the first in the world. At the same time, strange phenomena have appeared in some places. These clean energy sources with huge investment have been built, but they are not allowed to be used.
In Inner Mongolia, the wind power curtailment rate is 18%;
In Gansu, the curtailment rate of wind power is 39%;
The blackout rate in Xinjiang is 32%;
The electricity curtailment rate in Jilin is 32%.
According to the statistics of the National Energy Administration, the direct economic losses caused by these decommissioned wind power equipment exceeded 16 billion yuan.
Such a high wind power curtailment rate is indeed a huge waste of resources. In the past, in order to launch clean energy projects, various places did not hesitate to spend a lot of money, but after the construction was completed, power generation was restricted. The reasons are different, but the basic facts are relatively clear. To put it simply, the provinces where these wind power projects are located cannot absorb the electricity generated by the operation of all the equipment by themselves, but there are difficulties in sending it out. There are not only the problem that the receiving provinces are unwilling to receive it, but also the problem of shortage of power transmission infrastructure.
On the one hand, it is the determination of the country to govern the environment, the determination of the strong man to break his wrist, and on the other hand, the desire of ordinary people to improve air pollution; then, why are so many clean energy sources that cannot be put into use normally?
The reporter traveled to nearly ten cities to reveal the real reason for the shutdown of large-scale wind power bases.
The "Three Gorges on Land" in the past is now "the province of abandoning wind"
The first stop of the survey was Jiuquan, Gansu Province. According to the latest statistics, nearly 40% of the wind power equipment was restricted from being used here last year, making it the area with the most severe wind power deactivation in the country. The base, now can only bask in the sun on the Gobi.
After a two-hour drive from downtown Jiuquan, the reporter finally arrived at this wind power base. The local weather forecast showed that the wind reached level 7 that day, but most of the windmills stood motionless in the Gobi Desert.
Reporter Zhu Huirong: The ancient poem said, "The wind is tens of thousands of miles long, blowing through the Yumen Pass." This is the situation here. In order to take advantage of these abundant wind resources, many wind farms like this one behind me have been built in the local area. As you can see, the white windmills behind me are wind power generation equipment. They only turn when they are working. Looking into the distance in the direction of the camera, except for a few windmills that are still rotating, most of the windmills are not working.
This is not an ordinary project, it is the first large-scale wind power demonstration base in my country. In 2008, it passed the national examination and approval, and was also written into the National Energy Administration, the 11th and 12th Five-Year Plan for Renewable Energy, which many people call the "Three Gorges on Land". Such a major project, why is the windmill not working?
Wang Jian from the duty room of Yumen Wind Farm of China Guodian Gansu Longyuan Wind Power Co., Ltd. called the provincial dispatch center: "The wind is relatively strong today. We are now applying for more power, okay?"
The dispatcher of Gansu Electric Power Company: "No. We will not accept it for the time being. Please strictly follow the plan issued by the notification system."
It turned out that the windmill did not work, it was an order issued by the superior Gansu electric power department. The staff told reporters that in some time periods now, less than one tenth of the units can generate electricity.
Wei Liang, Deputy General Manager of China Guodian Gansu Longyuan Wind Power Co., Ltd.: Green means that it is running, which is equivalent to only 4 of 48 units running. This situation has lasted for a long time.
Reporter: Is this your family's situation or is it the same for all power plants?
Wei Liang: You can see the output of many surrounding power plants.
Reporter: Basically, the maximum output is hundreds, but the current output is less than ten.
Wei Liang: 5% to 10% is considered good now. If we follow this trend, the single-day power cut will be close to 70% to 80%.
At another power plant, the dispatcher is also shutting down windmills because the provincial power company has asked them to continue reducing power generation.
Gansu Huadian Yumen Electric Power Co., Ltd.: After all, it is an enterprise, and its main purpose is to make profits. If the power generation is not good, our performance work will be less.
Reporter: Has your performance changed in recent years?
Gansu Huadian Yumen Electric Power Co., Ltd.: Yes, but less and less.
In three days, the reporter interviewed nearly ten wind power plants in Jiuquan City, and none of them were not restricted to generate electricity.
Wu Shengxue, Director of the Energy Bureau of Jiuquan City, Gansu Province: Now, the entire installed capacity of Jiuquan in our place can generate 30 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity if it is fully loaded and not limited by electricity. At present, the power generation is less than 17 billion kWh.
The approval of transmission lines is slow, so the wind power base is suspended?
During the six-month investigation, the reporter found that the stalling of windmills in Gansu was not an isolated case. In order to prevent the situation from further worsening, the National Energy Administration even explicitly requested that no new projects should be arranged in areas with more than 20% of wind curtailment and power curtailment.
We can’t help but ask, why is this? Back then, in order to launch clean new energy, all localities spent a lot of money and lobbied everywhere, but the result? It was built, but it was not allowed to generate electricity, so I watched a lot of equipment on the Gobi Desert. Basking in the sun, what causes the windmill to stop in a large area?
The Gansu Provincial Electric Power Company controls all power generation projects in the province, and the order to restrict new energy power generation is sent from here. The reporter hopes to find the answer here.
Xing Zhou, Director of the Dispatching Center of Gansu Electric Power Company: The consumption of new energy in Gansu is mainly carried out in Gansu Province. The output of new energy sources must be sent outside the province through inter-provincial channels.
The Gansu Electric Power Company provided reporters with the following data: In 2014, the province's electricity consumption was more than 13 million kilowatts, but the installed capacity of new energy has exceeded 17 million kilowatts, which cannot be used locally.
Wang Duo, chief engineer of Gansu Electric Power Company: I think the consumption of new energy cannot be solved by Gansu alone or by the northwest alone.
This is the distribution map of the Northwest Power Grid. At present, the transmission lines in Gansu are only connected to a few provinces in the northwest, but these provinces do not want to use Gansu's electricity. In order to send out the extra electricity, it can only rely on long-distance inter-provincial transmission lines. But right now, there is no such line, so the windmill can only stop.
Why is the base built, but there is no supporting transmission line? The reporter found the State Grid Corporation, who are responsible for the construction of the national transmission line.
Li Qionghui, director of the State Grid Energy Research Institute New Energy and Statistics Institute: There is no synchronized planning with the power project in the plan, so it was proposed in 2009 that the approval application was not obtained until 2015 after the entire process was approved. This is the current wind curtailment limit. The main reason for the serious electricity shortage and the inability to send a large amount of clean energy.
State Grid's argument is that the transmission line is not missing, it has been planned for a long time, but the approval of the National Energy Administration is too slow, which has caused the current situation. Even in 2010, the first year of the Jiuquan Wind Power Base, the State Grid issued an early warning. : If there is no outgoing transmission line, "Gansu's clean energy will be seriously surplus." The reporter found the early warning document of that year.
In this document, the participating units include the "Gansu Energy Bureau". In other words, the Gansu Provincial Energy Bureau knows the content of the meeting. In this document, about the wind power base in Gansu, the State Grid did give a clear opinion that "the northwest power grid is insufficient in the absorption capacity. The planned wind power needs to be sent to the central and eastern regions of my country."
Who limits wind power?
As early as seven years ago, the State Grid issued an early warning. So, as the National Energy Administration, the approval of new energy projects across the country, why has it been approved for so long? The reporter contacted the National Energy Administration, who are responsible for the planning and approval.
Shi Lishan, deputy director of the New Energy Department of the National Energy Administration: There is a gap in understanding between National Energy Management and State Grid Corporation. State Grid wants to become a national power grid, so it desperately hopes that more will be connected to the Internet. I think It also makes sense, but this is not something that can be achieved at once today. In terms of energy management, local consumption is definitely the best.
The National Energy Administration does not agree with the issue that State Grid said about the delay in approval.
Shi Lishan, deputy director of the New Energy Department of the National Energy Administration: When all wind power projects in Gansu are under construction, they hope to be absorbed in Gansu and the northwest region. The development and utilization of wind power must first be based on the local area, and Gansu is in Gansu.
Shi Lishan told reporters that in 2008, the reason why the National Energy Administration approved Gansu's wind power plan had a very important condition, that is, Gansu Province must "consume" these wind power on the spot, that is, use it in Gansu and the northwest region. The National Energy Administration has its own views on the shutdown of such large-scale wind turbines in Gansu.
Shi Lishan, deputy director of the New Energy Department of the National Energy Administration: There is a problem of wind curtailment and electricity curtailment. It is true that in order to speed up development, everyone is working hard to build, so the amount of construction now exceeds the local consumption capacity. This is in planning and management. There is a problem on the .
With limited consumption capacity, why is Jiuquan going fast?
Come on! But as a national-level project with an investment of hundreds of billions of dollars, there should be a detailed investigation in advance, how big it should be built, and who will use it in the end. Then, how did the project plan at that time come out? Jiuquan Energy Bureau, responsible for the planning of the Jiuquan new energy project, the reporter found the director Wu Shengxue.
Reporter: Is the Jiuquan project too fast?
Wu Shengxue: I think the development of wind power is normal. From a national perspective, to vigorously develop clean energy, save energy and reduce emissions, our provincial government has also put forward an ambition to build its own wind power base, a very heroic slogan.
Reporter: Have you ever considered whether there will be such a big market?
Wu Shengxue: That’s what we thought at the time. We have a Three Gorges, and its installed hydropower capacity has reached 20 million kilowatts. We, Jiuquan, have a lot of wind resources, do not occupy arable land, and do not need to acquire land, then build a 10 million kilowatts Wind power base.
Reporter: Have you ever considered whether the market has such a large consumption capacity?
Wu Shengxue: Our country's original policy of developing new energy is to build a large base, which must be integrated into the large power grid, which must be used throughout China.
Regarding the State Grid, the Jiuquan Energy Bureau did not agree with what the National Energy Administration said about overcapacity. In their opinion, since their own wind power can be sent to the Northwest Power Grid, it can also send electricity to the whole country through the Northwest Power Transmission Network. Coupled with the Renewable Energy Law, which clearly prioritizes the use of clean energy, Jiuquan's electricity will not have to worry about running out, and there will be no problem of over-construction.
Wu Shengxue: Our Jiuquan base is a base in the national plan, so we are all implementing the national plan.
Reporter: So many equipment and machines to bask in the sun, is it consistent with the original intention?
Wu Shengxue: I think this is a problem in development. It needs national policies, national level, and unified assistance from provinces and cities to solve it. This is the problem of overcapacity.
Reporter: Is there a problem in that link?
Wu Shengxue: The electricity market in our country is highly competitive, and the clean energy market has been crowded out by thermal power.
Reporter: You think there is no problem with the local new energy in Jiuquan.
Wu Shengxue: The traditional energy has not retreated, and the root is in this aspect.
The National Energy Administration does not agree with such a statement.
Shi Lishan, deputy director of the New Energy Department of the National Energy Administration: We propose that Gansu stop the construction of all power sources, including solar and wind energy, because the amount is too large, you can't use it, but in reality, it will still have some projects to build , I think this process is also a very painful process. Every place involves employment and economic growth. There are some practical problems.
The "Renewable Energy Law" promulgated in 2006 clearly stipulated that new energy should be used for power generation. At that time, new energy was still a new thing for China, including the framers of this law, it is estimated that they did not expect Today, ten years later, new energy will have such a rapid development, and the four words "priority adoption" have led to the birth of "Jiuquan Speed" all over the country. This has resulted in a large area of overcapacity, and because of this, it is impossible to talk about "priority adoption". There is only construction planning, no electricity consumption planning. Just production, regardless of the market, the experience of Jiuquan may not be an accidental phenomenon.
It is difficult to enter the door with electricity sent thousands of miles away?
Not long ago, the National Energy Administration announced that during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the focus of the management of windmills will be stopped, and various places, including new energy companies, have also come up with ideas and solutions to solve the problem. However, in fact, the stoppage of windmills has not really ended. Taking Gansu as an example, the stopped wind power project is only the first phase of the overall project of Jiuquan Wind Power Base. Now, the second phase of the project is under construction. Different from the first phase, in order to no longer let these wind power have nowhere to go, at the beginning of the second phase of the project, Jiuquan planned to send these new energy power generation to Hunan through the long-distance transmission line being built by the State Grid. It will then transmit power to neighboring provinces such as Hubei and Jiangxi.
So, is this seemingly thoughtful and meticulously planned power transmission plan really feasible in reality? According to the planning of this dedicated power transmission line, it will be implemented in Xiangtan, Hunan.
Li Xiangqi, Director of the Electricity Trading Center of Hunan Electric Power Company: If the hydropower in our province is in production, then we cannot buy their electricity. We must first ensure that our hydropower cannot be abandoned, and we cannot clean it for the sake of other provinces. Energy sacrifices its own clean energy, which is definitely not acceptable.
Lei Yutian, Deputy Director of the Development Planning Department of Hunan Electric Power Company: Originally, the UHV from Jiuquan to Hunan should be consumed in Central China, not in Hunan Province. If it is to be consumed in Central China, it must be strengthened. Contact between Hunan and Central China. It should also strengthen the construction of exchange UHV from Kinmen to Changsha and to Nanchang.
Hunan felt that, according to the construction plan of this transmission line at that time, buying electricity from Gansu should be a matter of the entire Central China region, not a province of Hunan. What about Hubei and Jiangxi, which are closest to Hunan?
Xu Yang, deputy director of the Electric Power Division of the Hubei Provincial Development and Reform Commission: It's not simple that which province lacks electricity or which province lacks electricity, we simply make arrangements. In fact, many experts also put forward different views, that is, this kind of long-distance power transmission or distributed on-site consumption, these two views are comparable.
Wang Feng, Director of New Energy Department of Jiangxi Provincial Energy Bureau: Long-distance power transmission may be very dangerous to our receiving end power grid. If this power suddenly disappears and suddenly loses, then if we have no power support, it will be very dangerous for the power grid. Dangerous, it will cause the collapse of the power grid, which is the so-called large-scale blackout.
Jiangxi Hubei thermal power plant approved projects hit a record high
There is a saying called twists and turns, and it is more appropriate to use it here. Electricity sent thousands of miles away was turned away. Is it true that these provinces do not need electricity in the first place? With the deepening of the investigation, the reporter has mastered such a set of data: Since December 2014, Hubei, The number of coal power projects approved by the two provinces in Jiangxi has reached 10, and the scale is very large. How big is it? Roughly speaking, last year, the coal power projects approved by these two provinces exceeded the total installed capacity of wind power in the entire Jiuquan area. quantity.
In other words, Hubei and Jiangxi provinces not only do not welcome new energy, but are also launching a large number of coal power generation projects. Why is this?
Hubei Province, last year, approved 6 coal power projects with a total installed capacity of 7.98 million kilowatts. It is equivalent to one third of the Three Gorges Hydropower Station.
Xu Yang, deputy director of the Electric Power Division of the Hubei Provincial Development and Reform Commission: Because Hubei is short of coal, oil and electricity, in order to meet the needs of the country and the two lakes and one river, we have planned a major coal transportation channel, the Menghua Railway.