Limitations of Wind Energy in Qinghai - Term Paper Example

Current status, Potential, Limitation of wind energy in Qinghai Wind energy is fast developing as an alternative source of energy in the 21st century. As compared to other renewable sources of energy, wind energy applications have found wider acceptance around the world as a green energy source. It becomes the third core energy source following oil and chemical fuels. Qinghai Plateau is rich in wind energy resources. The wind power industry in Qinghai is still in a developing period. The developments so far are an indication that there are good prospects for developing the wind power generation in Qinghai in the future. This research paper focuses on the potential of wind energy generation and scope for future development in Qinghai Plateau in future. During the study data would be collected about the present status of wind energy in Qinghai; then depending on Qinghai Plateaus special topography and meteorology situation, an effort would be made to figure out the potential of wind energy in Qinghai. Well, the venture is not without its share of problems and limitations. Therefore, during the study it would also be my endeavour to find out the limitations in developing the wind energy. In general the study is being undertaken to understand the advantages of wind energy and the potential that Qinghai Plateau holds for future. Introduction The conversion of wind energy to various other useful forms, like electricity, is known as wind power. Wind energy is converted into these forms using wind turbines. It has proved its potential as a source of electrical energy in many parts of the world. The first use of wind energy was through wind mills. Wind mills had engines which were in turn used to produce energy using wind. This energy was usually used in rural and agricultural areas for grinding, pumping, hammering and various other requirements in farms. Even today, wind energy is used in large scale wind farms to provide electricity to rural areas and other outside locations (Yongjun Chen, Yong He, 08.2008). Wind Energy finds its wide acceptance because; i. Wind energy quite cheap in comparison to traditional sources of fuel and other alternative sources of energy. ii. It helps in reducing greenhouse gas emissions Wind Energy is advantageous over traditional methods of creating energy, in the sense that it is getting cheaper and cheaper to produce wind energy. Therefore, wind energy is bound to become the cheapest method of producing energy on a large scale in future. But, production of wind energy depends on geological, geographical and meteorological conditions prevailing around the region. For any given area, the direction, velocity, and duration of wind would be quite variable, depending on local topography and temperature differences in the atmosphere. Qinghai Plateau Meteorology Qinghai Plateau reaches to the middle of the troposphere, compared to surrounding regions in the same latitude. Cold, dry, and intense wind characterizes the climate of the Qinghai Plateau, which is surrounded by towering mountain ranges. Qinghai experiences long, bitterly cold winters, with January’s average temperatures ranging from −7°C in the east to −18°C in the west. Summers are short, with July average temperatures varying from 21°C in the east to 5°C amongst the mountains in the west. Average temperatures are low in the region on account of the elevation of the province. Within a day it ranges from freezing to a maximum of 29°C. Rainfall is sparse; the average annual precipitation in the Qaidam Basin is less than 50 mm, and varies over the rest of the province from 500 mm in the east and 100 mm in the west. The thin atmosphere and scarce impurities contained in atmosphere, the easy dissipation of heat from the surface, and the rapid temperature fall causes adverse diurnal temperature variations of the plateau after sunset. Qinghai Province is in the plateau-continental climate zone, where part of the dry land heats up and cools down more quickly than the seas do. The differential heating drives atmospheric convection system. Most of the energy stored in these wind movements can be found at its special high altitudes where the continuous wind speeds is over 160 km/h (100 mph). Eventually, the wind energy is converted through friction into diffuse heat throughout the Earths surface and the atmosphere. Qinghai Plateaus Topography Qinghai province with its high terrain is topographically known as the Qinghai Plateau which is an important part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has an average elevation of over 4,500 meters, which reaches to the middle of the troposphere, compared to surrounding regions in the same latitude. Cold, dry, and intense winds characterize the climate of the Qinghai Plateau, which is surrounded by towering mountain ranges. Most of the Altun and Qilian mountain areas in the north are more than 4,000 meters above sea level. The Huanghe and Huangshui river valley lands in the north-eastern corner, about 2,000 meters in elevation, are the lowest-lying regions and the most important farming areas of Qinghai. The Qinghai Lake Basin consists of a vast lake deposit plain, well suited for farming and animal husbandry. The Qaidam, a large inland basin walled in by the Altun, Qilian and Kunlun mountains in the northwest, slopes from northwest to southeast and is interspersed with numerous salt lakes and swamps. The plateau in the south, which makes up more than half of the provinces total area and exceeds 4,500 meters in elevation, includes the Kunlun range and its branches, the Hohxil, Bayanhar and Anyemaqen mountains and provides headwaters for the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers. The whole province is on the Plateau. The topography in Qinghai Province is complicated and diverse. The Qingnan Plateau accounts for more than half of the total area of the province with an average altitude of over 4,000 meters. In Qinghai Province, flatlands occupy 30.1% of the provinces total area, foothills 18.7%, and highlands 51.2%. Plateaus, basins, and valleys stretch between the mountains. The topography is high and steep in the western part of the province and slopes gradually from the west to the east. The west-to-east mountain ranges and the north-to-south mountain ranges, form the ‘geomorphic framework’ of Qinghai Province. Qinghai Province is abundant in solar radiation, sunshine, and wind energy (Huawei Service Project). Wind energy advantage and disadvantage in Qinghai Given these advantageous geological and meteorological features, it is quite apparent that the potential for wind energy is high in this region. One of the greatest advantages of Wind Energy is that it has tremendous potential as a source of electrical energy. Wind energy is renewable, widely distributed and it is readily available around the globe, cheap, and also reduces carbon dioxide emissions. That is why wind energy generates no pollution. Wind Energy is also a permanent type of energy. The wind will exist till the time the sun exists. Qinghai has the natural advantage over the utilization of wind energy. The greater part of it is dry and cold and with long winters, short summers, frequent winds, little rainfall, long hours of sunshine and great differences in temperature between day and night. It has a mean annual temperature of 0 to 8oC. The hottest month, July, averages 20oC and the coldest month, January, below -8oC and a mean annual precipitation generally below 300 mm. It receives over 2,500 hours of sunshine annually and ranks the first among all provinces in China in terms of the sunshine time and the amount of total solar radiation. In the central and western parts of the Qinghai Plateau, the Caidamu Basin, the area around the Qinghai Lake, and the southern part of the tablelands of the south of Qinghai, the wind energy is available for more than 5,000 hours a year. In Chaerhan, the area that has the largest amount of wind energy in Qinghai Province, the wind energy is available for an accumulated period of 6131 hours annually (Wang Tiehong, Li Ning, 2001). Thus, alternative source of power with wind energy is the most viable option in this region. However, wind energy has a relatively low environmental impact. It will certainly help in reducing the use of fossil fuels which in turn would help in making the environment more sustainable. This form of energy will specially benefit the vulnerable environmental ecosystem of Qinghai. Compared to the environmental impacts of traditional energy sources, the environmental effects of wind power are relatively minor. Wind power consumes no fuel, and emits no air pollution, unlike fossil fuel power sources. However, there are some disadvantages for wind energy as well, which may prove to be a dampener in its popularity. Though the cost of developing wind energy is going down, even today a large number of turbines have to be built to generate a proper amount of wind energy. Though wind power is non-polluting, the turbines may create a lot of noise, which indirectly contributes to noise pollution. Wind can never be predicted. Even the most advanced machinery may come out a cropper while predicting weather and wind conditions. Since wind energy will require knowledge of the weather and wind conditions on long term basis, it may be a bit impractical. Therefore, in areas where a large amount of energy is needed, one cannot depend completely on wind. Many potential wind farms, places where wind energy can be produced on a large scale, are far away from places for where wind energy is best suited. Therefore, the economical nature of wind energy may take a beating in terms of costs of new substations and transmission lines. Wind Energy is non-dispatchable. This may also put a spanner in depending upon wind power as a primary energy supplier. Wind energy depends upon the wind in an area and therefore is a variable source of energy. The amount of wind supplied to a place and the amount of energy produced from it will depend on various factors like wind speeds and the turbine characteristics. Some critics also wonder whether wind energy can be used in areas of high demand. Danger to birds and bats is often the main complaint against the installation of a wind turbine. However, studies show that the number of birds killed by wind turbines is negligible compared to the numbers that die as a result of other human activities, and especially the environmental impacts of using non-clean power sources. Bat species appear to be at risk during key movement periods. Almost nothing is known about current populations of these species and the impact on bat numbers as a result of mortality at wind-power locations. Offshore wind sites, 10 km or more from shore, do not interact with bat populations. While a wind farm may cover a large area of land, many land uses such as agriculture are compatible, with only small areas of turbine foundations and infrastructure made unavailable for use. Wind energy current status and potential in Qinghai World wind generation capacity has more than quadrupled between 2000 and 2006, doubling about every three years. By comparison, photovoltaics have been doubling about every two years i.e. about 48% per year, although from a smaller base (15,200 MWp in 2008). 81% of wind power installations are in the US and Europe. The share of the top five countries in terms of new installations fell from 71% in 2004 to 62% in 2006, but climbed up to 73% by 2008 as those countries - the United States, Germany, Spain, China, and India - have seen substantial capacity growth in the past two years (Robert Kropp). China is rich in wind resources. The technically exploitable resource is 1,000GW, distributed across the southeast coastal areas, adjacent islands, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, the Gansu Hexi Corridor, Huabei and the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Qinghai Province featured with its rich natural resources, unique eco-environment and multi-cultures is striving for improvements in its great potential development strength with its strengthened vitality and enhanced charm with further economic development and opening-up to the outside world. So far its four major pillar industries, including hydropower, petroleum and natural gas, nonferrous metals and saline chemical engineering have been established. The Qinghai government endeavored to greatly develop its cycle economy and plateau-featured tourism industry and meanwhile it planned to speed up developing the new energy resource industry, including solar and wind energy lately. In June, 2008 Golmud City of Qinghai Province and Beijing Huaneng Renewable Energy Holdings Co., Ltd signed an investment agreement on 100,000 KW wind power generation project. With a gross investment of 1 billion yuan, a total installed capacity of 100,000 KW, and a site area of 30sqm, the successful implementation of the project fills the gap of wind power generation in Golmud City. It is understood that the annual average wind speed in Golmud City is around 3M/S, and annual average wind power density above 20W／m2. Wind power density from April to June reaches 30-40 W/m2. To accelerate the development and utilization of renewable energy and transform wind into electricity, Golmud municipal government made active efforts, and finally signed an investment agreement on 100,000 KW wind power generation project (Li jian ping, 2008). The wind power generation equipment manufacturing project operated by Qinghai Fengfa Technology Development Co., Ltd. has broken ground in the Nanchuan Industrial Park of Xining, Qinghai Province, northwest China, embracing a total investment of CNY 600 million. As the first one of its likes in Qinghai, the project covering around 667,000 square meters is expected to contribute CNY 5 billion to the builders annual output value in the upcoming three years. In particular, a series of world-class production technologies will be introduced into this wind power generation equipment manufacturing base, which consists of 2,000 high-efficiency vertical axis wind power generation sets, is scheduled to start operation at the end of September 2009, contributing output value of CNY 200 million by the end of the year 2009. Before 2012, Qinghai Fengfa Technology Development will complete the second phase that is composed of 8,000 wind power generation sets and a EV (electric vehicle) refitting project (www.mysteel.com, March 19, 2009). The research report, “From the sustainability of wind energy: A Global approach to wind power" assess the sustainability of the extensive use of wind energy. The research findings conclude that wind energy as a renewable energy source is striving hard to reach maturity, wind power is growing at 29% a year and it is expected to do even better in the future. The industry of wind energy is therefore becoming one of the most promising solutions to the current world energy concerns Limitation factor for developing wind energy in Qinghai Development and applications on wind energy have just started in Qinghai. Wind energy could be a solution to the energy problems facing global climate change, incoming shortage of fossil fuels and increasing demand. For this industry to continue its growth and to become one of the primary energy sources in Qinghai, the future has to bring some much needed improvements in the technology. In the natural impact, wind can never be predicted. Even the most advanced machinery may come out a cropper while predicting weather and wind conditions. Since wind energy will require knowledge of the weather and wind conditions on long term basis, it may be a bit impractical. Therefore, in areas where a large amount of wind energy is needed, one cannot depend completely on wind. In the social aspect, the fact that wind industry participates in local development tends to advocate for its sustainability. Moreover, limited negative social impacts and positive effects for local populations will help in larger participation of the local people and they will be more amenable to acceptance of wind turbines installation. The main problems are as follows: Not listed into the state energy construction plan; Not listed into the normal financial channel to appropriate funds at different levels of governments; Lack of related policies and laws to push forward and support the development and popularization of the new and renewable energy. Lower investment input in the new and renewable energy. Lower commercialization and weak industrialization. Wind energy depends upon the wind in an area and therefore is a variable source of energy. The amount of wind supplied to a place and the amount of energy produced from it will depend on various factors like wind speeds and the turbine characteristics. Some critics also wonder whether wind energy can be used in areas of high demand. According to research group of "From the sustainability of wind energy---A Global approach to wind power", a report presented wind energy sustainability in future even if reduced by geographical or technical factors; the overall availability of the wind resource does not threaten the expansion of the wind energy industry. The decrease of green house gases emission and the security of supply are interesting gains brought by wind energy. Conclusion The sustainable development of the environment is a challenging issue facing China and the world. At present, the economic growth mode with high energy consumption and the unreasonable industrial structure have resulted in severe pollution to the environment in Qinghai Plateau. Energy and environmental issues are posing an increasing threat to its economic growth and the sustainable development of the economy. Therefore, Qinghai government endeavors to tackle the problems and make substantial progress in energy conservation and emission reduction. Wind power has tremendous potential as a source of electrical energy in many parts of the world. But wind energy is a geological as well as geographical and meteorological problem. For any given area, the direction, velocity, and duration of wind would be quite variable, depending on local topography and temperature differences in the atmosphere. Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has an average elevation of over 4,500 meters, which reaches to the middle of the troposphere, compared to surrounding regions in the same latitude. Cold, dry, and intense winds characterize the climate of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which is surrounded by towering mountain ranges. The high level of solar irradiation causes the rapid rise of surface temperatures after sunrise. The thin atmosphere and scarce impurities contained in atmosphere, the easy dissipation of heat from the surface, and the rapid temperature lowering cause adverse diurnal temperature variations of the plateau after sunset. The seasonal monsoon weather associated with the heating and cooling of the plateau makes this the strongest monsoon in this region. Given these geological and meteorological features, the potential for wind energy is high in this region. Thus, alternative wind energy should be developed. However, wind energy has a relatively low environmental impact. It still can reduce fossil fuel and help develop environmental sustainability. It especially has benefits for the vulnerable environmental ecosystem of Qinghai Plateau. Reference "Huawei Service."Huawei Solution for the Green Project of Qinghai Mobile. http://www.huawei.com/publications/view . (accessed April, 2009 ). 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