Sun Power's net profit increased by 148% year-on-year last year

People in the wind power industry describe the development of offshore wind power as “the key to putting resources there and opening up resources. The keys are two: technology and policy.”

Some people say that it is an opportunity. Some people say that it is the direction. The limited enthusiasm of enterprises is largely due to the lack of "two keys." With the high-end equipment manufacturing industry becoming the focus of China's industrial development and the increasing development of renewable energy sources, the future of offshore wind power will attract much attention.

"The wind is loud and the rain is small"

For the development of offshore wind power, the "12th Five-Year Development Plan for High-end Equipment Manufacturing Industry" proposes to fully promote marine renewable energy equipment represented by marine wind energy engineering equipment. According to the plan, with the focus on marine wind energy engineering equipment, we will vigorously develop offshore and intertidal fan installation platforms (ships), offshore wind turbine operation and maintenance vessels, and offshore and intertidal wind power generation equipment to comprehensively promote the industrialization of marine renewable energy. .

The country’s attitude is clearer. However, what is the feeling of the wind power industry in reality?

"Only a few leading companies are doing (offshore wind power), and many companies are daunting." On March 18, Zhuo Chuang, an analyst at Wang Zhuokun, told the China Economic Times.

The development of offshore wind power is considered to have many meanings. In an interview with a reporter from the China Economic Times, a general manager of a large wind power enterprise’s R&D business unit believed that offshore wind power is an important development direction for the future new energy industry, especially the wind power industry. In Wang Xiaokun's view, currently wind power is mainly concentrated in the “Three Norths” and some hilly and windy mountain areas. Severe problems such as grid connection and abandonment of wind are serious. “If offshore wind power develops, it is a rescue for wind power companies”.

For China's wind power industry, the launch of the first offshore wind power concession tender in 2010 has special significance. However, compared with the original enthusiasm, the project started difficult, slow progress and other issues have been criticized by the industry later.

Jin Xiaolong, general manager of Shanghai Electric Power Co., Ltd., told the China Economic Times that as wind turbine manufacturers, they will certainly participate in the development of offshore wind power. However, he believes that the progress of offshore wind power will not be rapid.

“At present, the promotion of offshore wind power in China is still not very strong. The key is that investors are still in a wait-and-see state. From the first batch of offshore wind power bidding to the present, apart from the Shanghai Donghai Bridge, there are very few offshore wind power projects that are actually implemented. Marine wind energy engineering equipment The demand is not strong," said Jin Xiaolong.

He frankly stated that China has already formed a certain capacity in the development of offshore wind power and has the conditions for large-scale development of offshore wind power. For example, several offshore construction vessels and Longyuan Power's developments in offshore wind power have been developed, but these capacity developments are still very limited.

At the same time, according to our reporter in the interview, some of the approval powers for land wind power have been decentralized. In contrast, the approval of offshore wind power currently involves marine, military, maritime, environmental, and other areas. The procedures are also very tedious.

The bottleneck on the "two keys" side is the policy enthusiasm for the development of offshore wind power, on the other hand, it is the actual performance of the company. Why do some people say that it is an opportunity, some people say that it is the direction, and the enthusiasm of enterprises is not high, why can't the policy be "landed"?

In an interview with a reporter from the China Economic Times, a general manager of a large-scale R&D business unit of a domestic wind power company said that from the point of view of technical equipment, wind power companies currently have no mature experience because everyone knows that the risk is very high and the technical challenges are very large. Therefore, the equipment itself still faces many problems. From the policy perspective, the relevant electricity prices are not yet clear, and companies are unwilling to try risks.

According to our reporter's understanding of the situation in the interview, compared with Europe, China's offshore wind power development process is relatively short. The real sense of offshore wind turbines can be traced back to Goldwind's (2007) experimental R&D testing in Bohai Bay. Industry insiders admit to this newspaper reporter that China’s related research still has many unsystematic aspects.

The engineering equipment required for the development of offshore wind energy generally consists of two parts: one part is a wind turbine; the other part is the engineering equipment required for the implementation of the project, such as lifting vessels and operation and maintenance vessels.

According to the general manager of the wind power R&D business unit mentioned above, lifting ships do not have the challenges of core technologies. O&M vessels can do some application design based on the existing marine vessel technology and engineering experience to better achieve accessibility. . In contrast, the reliability of the wind turbines required for offshore power generation is very challenging.

According to the source, the technical complexity and difficulty of offshore wind power far surpass that of land-based wind power, which involves marine meteorology, special anti-corrosion technology, foundations required for wind turbines, and floating control. The temperature, current, and salinity of each sea area are also different. "The development of offshore wind power, the reliability of the unit's technological breakthroughs and the cost of electricity is the core."

In addition to technology, another issue worth noting is that the cost of offshore wind power is about twice as high as thermal power, and there is no clear statement on the current price policy of offshore wind power.

"The developers expect that the pricing will be around $0.9 per degree. If this can be set, the enthusiasm of developers is expected to increase." Jin Xiaolong said.

Zhuo Chuang Wang Xiaokun analyst believes that due to the high cost of offshore wind power, the state should introduce the details of the policy, such as support for technological innovation, reduce equipment costs, reduce early investment and better grid-connected price, etc., to support the development of wind power.

Wind power industry insiders call for the development of offshore wind power, to do a gradual, long-term planning, core technologies need to have a continuous input mechanism, at the same time require a rigorous evaluation mechanism and a transparent and fair market environment.