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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Baseload, industrial-scale wind power: An alternative to coal in China

Conference ·
OSTI ID:447493
;  [1]; ;  [2]
  1. Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ (United States)
  2. Ministry of Electric Power, Beijing (China)

This report presents a novel strategy for developing wind power on an industrial-scale in China. Oversized wind farms, large-scale electrical storage and long-distance transmission lines are integrated to deliver {open_quotes}baseload wind power{close_quotes} to distant electricity demand centers. The prospective costs for this approach to developing wind power are illustrated by modeling an oversized wind farm at Huitengxile, Inner Mongolia. Although storage adds to the total capital investment, it does not necessarily increase the cost of the delivered electricity. Storage makes it possible to increase the capacity factor of the electric transmission system, so that the unit cost for long-distance transmission is reduced. Moreover, baseload wind power is typically more valuable to the electric utility than intermittent wind power, so that storage can be economically attractive even in instances where the cost per kWh is somewhat higher than without storage. 9 refs., 3 figs., 2 tabs.

Research Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States); National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States)
OSTI ID:
447493
Report Number(s):
CONF-960630--; ON: DE97002833
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English