IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natene/v1y2016i7d10.1038_nenergy.2016.86.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Modelling the potential for wind energy integration on China’s coal-heavy electricity grid

Author

Listed:
  • Michael R. Davidson

    (China Energy and Climate Project, Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Da Zhang

    (China Energy and Climate Project, Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    China Energy and Climate Project, Institute of Energy, Environment, and Economy, Tsinghua University)

  • Weiming Xiong

    (China Energy and Climate Project, Institute of Energy, Environment, and Economy, Tsinghua University)

  • Xiliang Zhang

    (China Energy and Climate Project, Institute of Energy, Environment, and Economy, Tsinghua University
    Research Center for Contemporary Management, Tsinghua University)

  • Valerie J. Karplus

    (China Energy and Climate Project, Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Abstract

Expanding the use of wind energy for electricity generation forms an integral part of China’s efforts to address degraded air quality and climate change. However, the integration of wind energy into China’s coal-heavy electricity system presents significant challenges owing to wind’s variability and the grid’s system-wide inflexibilities. Here we develop a model to predict how much wind energy can be generated and integrated into China’s electricity mix, and estimate a potential production of 2.6 petawatt-hours (PWh) per year in 2030. Although this represents 26% of total projected electricity demand, it is only 10% of the total estimated physical potential of wind resources in the country. Increasing the operational flexibility of China’s coal fleet would allow wind to deliver nearly three-quarters of China’s target of producing 20% of primary energy from non-fossil sources by 2030.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael R. Davidson & Da Zhang & Weiming Xiong & Xiliang Zhang & Valerie J. Karplus, 2016. "Modelling the potential for wind energy integration on China’s coal-heavy electricity grid," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 1(7), pages 1-7, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natene:v:1:y:2016:i:7:d:10.1038_nenergy.2016.86
    DOI: 10.1038/nenergy.2016.86
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nenergy201686
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nenergy.2016.86?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ding, Tao & Sun, Yuge & Huang, Can & Mu, Chenlu & Fan, Yuqi & Lin, Jiang & Qin, Yining, 2022. "Pathways of clean energy heating electrification programs for reducing carbon emissions in Northwest China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    2. Li, Aitong & Sun, Ying & Song, Xiaobin, 2023. "Gradual improvement and reactive intervention: China's policy pathway for developing the wind power industry," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    3. Wang, Yadong & Wang, Delu & Shi, Xunpeng, 2023. "Sustainable development pathways of China's wind power industry under uncertainties: Perspective from economic benefits and technical potential," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    4. Tu, Qiang & Mo, Jianlei & Liu, Zhuoran & Gong, Chunxu & Fan, Ying, 2021. "Using green finance to counteract the adverse effects of COVID-19 pandemic on renewable energy investment-The case of offshore wind power in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    5. Liu, Fa & Sun, Fubao & Wang, Xunming, 2023. "Impact of turbine technology on wind energy potential and CO2 emission reduction under different wind resource conditions in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 348(C).
    6. Liu, Changyi & Wang, Yang & Zhu, Rong, 2017. "Assessment of the economic potential of China's onshore wind electricity," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 33-39.
    7. Zuo, Hongyan & Zhang, Bin & Huang, Zhonghua & Wei, Kexiang & Zhu, Hong & Tan, Jiqiu, 2022. "Effect analysis on SOC values of the power lithium manganate battery during discharging process and its intelligent estimation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PB).
    8. Qiu, Lihua & He, Li & Kang, Yu & Liang, Dongzhe, 2022. "Assessment of the potential of enhanced geothermal systems in Asia under the impact of global warming," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 636-646.
    9. Nycander, Elis & Morales-España, Germán & Söder, Lennart, 2022. "Power-based modelling of renewable variability in dispatch models with clustered time periods," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 944-956.
    10. Ahmad, Munir & Khan, Irfan & Shahzad Khan, Muhammad Qaiser & Jabeen, Gul & Jabeen, Hafiza Samra & Işık, Cem, 2023. "Households' perception-based factors influencing biogas adoption: Innovation diffusion framework," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PE).
    11. Zhang, Xiaodong & Patino-Echeverri, Dalia & Li, Mingquan & Wu, Libo, 2022. "A review of publicly available data sources for models to study renewables integration in China's power system," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    12. Ding, Qingguo & Wang, Jianxiao & Zhang, Bing & Yu, Yang, 2023. "Economic burden of China's fairness regulations on power generation sector," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).
    13. E, Jiaqiang & Zhang, Bin & Zeng, Yan & Wen, Ming & Wei, Kexiang & Huang, Zhonghua & Chen, Jingwei & Zhu, Hao & Deng, Yuanwang, 2022. "Effects analysis on active equalization control of lithium-ion batteries based on intelligent estimation of the state-of-charge," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PB).
    14. Zhang, Chongchong & Cai, Xiangyu & Lin, Boqiang, 2023. "The low-carbon transition of China's power sector: Scale effect of grid upgrading," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    15. Ozkan, Oktay & Coban, Mustafa Necati & Destek, Mehmet Akif, 2024. "Navigating the winds of change: Assessing the impact of wind energy innovations and fossil energy efficiency on carbon emissions in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    16. Xu, Jialong & Moslehpour, Massoud & Tran, Trung Kien & Dinh, Khai Cong & Ngo, Thanh Quang & Huy, Pham Quang, 2023. "The role of institutional quality, renewable energy development and trade openness in green finance: Empirical evidence from South Asian countries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 687-692.
    17. Liu, Ying, 2023. "How does economic recovery impact green finance and renewable energy in Asian economies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 538-545.
    18. Li, Mingquan & Shan, Rui & Virguez, Edgar & Patiño-Echeverri, Dalia & Gao, Shuo & Ma, Haichao, 2022. "Energy storage reduces costs and emissions even without large penetration of renewable energy: The case of China Southern Power Grid," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    19. Jianxiao Wang & Liudong Chen & Zhenfei Tan & Ershun Du & Nian Liu & Jing Ma & Mingyang Sun & Canbing Li & Jie Song & Xi Lu & Chin-Woo Tan & Guannan He, 2023. "Inherent spatiotemporal uncertainty of renewable power in China," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natene:v:1:y:2016:i:7:d:10.1038_nenergy.2016.86. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.