How to build an independent and controllable wind power industry chain

In order to achieve the goals of carbon peak and carbon neutrality, Jiangsu must build a new power system with new energy as the main body. Among them, grasping the forefront of world wind power technology and development trends and building an independent and controllable wind power industry chain is one of the main paths.

Since the 1980s and 1990s, wind power technology has developed rapidly and gradually matured. The wind power industry has developed rapidly around the world with its own advantages. From 2011 to 2020, the total installed capacity of wind power in the world has increased from 237 million kilowatts to 750 million kilowatts. It is estimated that the global installed capacity of wind power will exceed 2 billion kilowatts in 2030.

World wind power technology frontier and development trend

The world's wind power technology frontier and development trend can be analyzed from the perspectives of engineering technology and engineering management. From the perspective of engineering technology, the world's wind power technology frontier is reflected in the three aspects of "high power", "ultra-long distance" and "informatization". From the perspective of engineering management, it is manifested in the three levels of "intelligence", "interconnection of things" and "standardization".

High-power, high-tower, and large-blade wind turbines have become a development trend. High-power generators have become an important development direction. Major wind turbines in the West are developing towards offshore wind farms of more than 10MW. Siemens 8-10MW wind turbines, General Electric 12MW wind turbines, and even larger power motors have been put into use. High towers can achieve higher power generation. 140-170-meter towers have been used on a large scale abroad. Continuously reducing the weight of towers through technical means is also an important trend in the wind power industry. Developing large impellers with a diameter of 200 meters or more, using laser and artificial intelligence technology to carry out tower clearance monitoring operations, and promoting lightweight, flexible, and foldable blades have become the direction.

It is an important direction to develop a wind power industry that is adapted to the deep sea, desert, and plateau. Although offshore wind power started late, it has been developing rapidly around the world in recent years due to the stability of sea wind resources and the characteristics of large power generation. It has the characteristics of being highly dependent on technology-driven, and has the conditions to serve as a core power source to promote the development of the global low-carbon economy in the future. In 2020, the United Kingdom is the world's largest offshore wind power market, with installed capacity accounting for nearly 36% of the world, followed by Germany, accounting for 29%. China's offshore wind power installed capacity accounts for 11% of the world's installed capacity, ranking third, and the newly added offshore wind power installed capacity that year ranked first in the world. In addition, in order to make full use of wind resources, wind farms are established in deserts and plateaus, and their installed capacity accounts for an increasing proportion of wind power generation.

Intelligence, standardization and clustering are integrated into the wind power operation monitoring system. At present, the intelligent operation and maintenance technology of wind farms in the world is developing in the direction of informatization, standardization and clustering. The main technologies include: comprehensive intelligent sensing technology for wind turbines and wind farms, wind power big data collection, transmission, storage, integration and rapid search and extraction technology; establishment of wind farm monitoring system information model and communication compatibility solution between wind turbines; large-scale wind farm group remote communication technology, development of wind farm communication protocol and data visualization display platform, and realization of seamless integration of wind farm information. Through the deep integration of intelligent control technology, advanced sensing technology and high-speed data transmission technology, the operating status and working conditions of wind turbines are comprehensively analyzed, and the operating parameters of the units are adjusted in real time to ensure the efficient and high-reliability operation of wind power equipment.

Use big data to carry out intelligent diagnosis and early warning of wind turbine faults. The in-depth integration of wind power operation and maintenance with information technology includes the establishment of an Internet of Things big data platform that includes wind farm group operation data, meteorological data, power grid information, and wind power equipment operation information. Through the coordinated control and comprehensive analysis of multiple wind farm groups, the intelligent control of wind turbines and the optimization of power generation are strengthened. Currently, all wind farms in service are equipped with a monitoring and data acquisition system (SCADA) with historical data accumulated over many years of operation. In order to monitor the vibration status of wind turbines, new wind turbines are equipped with a vibration status monitoring system (CMS). Based on big data technology, wind power status monitoring and intelligent early warning technology are carried out, and wind turbine status prediction and fault diagnosis are carried out. Using big data to monitor the health status, diagnose faults, evaluate life, and automatically handle wind turbines has become a technical direction that major wind power manufacturers in the world are actively investing in.

Distributed application of wind power and flexible grid-connected technology are widely promoted and applied. Distributed application of wind power and flexible grid-connected technology in Europe and the United States are becoming more mature, and distributed access and microgrid application are becoming a growing trend. Its technical direction and applicability are very worthy of reference for my country, especially for advanced technologies such as fault ride-through, frequency support and island protection for distributed access power sources. In addition, wind power sources and traditional power sources, energy storage, loads, other new energy sources, charging piles and intelligent distribution protection systems will have more diverse and in-depth interactions, and there will be broad technical development space in terms of operation control, information interaction and safety.

The gap between my country's wind power industry and foreign wind power technology

The key technologies and core components of wind turbines are controlled by foreign countries. There are still some "neck-stuck" technologies in my country's wind turbine components, and there is a risk of supply interruption, mainly including: First, the IGBT/IGCT semiconductor power devices and core control chips used in inverters and pitch control systems are mainly monopolized by Infineon (Germany), Mitsubishi (Japan), and Semikron (Germany). Second, the main shaft bearings, gearboxes and high-speed shaft bearings in generators used in large wind turbines are mainly monopolized by imported brands such as SKF (Sweden), FAG (Germany), and NSK (Japan). Third, the engineering analysis software used for design and development has been monopolized by Europe and the United States for a long time. There are also some short-board technologies that are somewhat behind developed countries, mainly including high-speed data acquisition system chips used in wind turbine main control and certification test systems, biaxial fatigue test equipment for blades, and automated auxiliary production equipment.

The intelligent construction and test technology of wind farms lag behind those of Western countries. The first is digital wind power technology. Foreign countries are in the demonstration application stage in terms of adaptive control, wake control of wind farm clusters, and digital twins. There is no complete evaluation system and mature quantitative analysis method for domestic intelligent fault diagnosis and early warning. There is a gap between onshore wind power operation and maintenance and foreign countries in terms of refinement and informatization. There is a lack of offshore operation and maintenance experience, and digitalization and informatization need to be improved urgently. The second is test and testing technology. The research on public test system technology lags behind advanced countries. There is no full-scale ground transmission chain test system and offshore wind power test technology demonstration base. The relevant test technology has not been mastered, and the offshore wind power detection capability has not yet been systematically formed. Foreign countries have complete public test and detection capabilities.

There is a gap between China and the West in terms of ultra-high tower and deep-sea construction technology. First of all, in the field of construction technology, my country's ultra-high tower technology is in its infancy. In this regard, it is necessary to combine my country's market demand and natural environment to improve the line design and road design scheme, object recognition algorithm, field experience recognition, transportation status digital monitoring and field construction plan in one three-dimensional visual construction process management. Offshore construction technology needs to establish offshore load closed-loop design technology; realize the overall iteration technology of the common platform of offshore environment-support structure-unit; support the construction and operation and maintenance technology of large offshore units of 10MW and above. In addition, foreign offshore wind power has been developed on a large scale, and offshore floating wind power has been demonstrated and operated. There is a large gap in domestic high-power offshore floating support structure technology.