Chapter 4 – China: resource assessment of offshore wind potential
In: Woodrow, C. (2014). Global sustainable communities handbook. Green design technologies and economics. Butterworth-Heinemann: [s.l.]. ISBN 978-0-12-397914-8. 608 pp., more
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| Keyword |
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| Author keywords |
Geographic information system; Offshore wind energy; Exclusive economic zone; Technical potential; Spatial constrained potential; Economic potential; Levelized production cost; Tropical cyclones; Cost-supply curves |
| Abstract |
A bottom-up geographic information system (GIS)-based offshore model was applied to assess the technical potential of offshore wind energy under a multiple of spatial constraints and its location-specific economic costs. The total technical potential in China’s exclusive economic zone is estimated to be 1715 TWh/year under the current technical level of offshore wind farms and turbines. However, spatial constraints, including designated shipping lanes, submarine cables, and bird migratory paths, as well as visual exclusion, would eliminate approximately 8.7% of the total technical potential, having the most significant impacts on shallower waters (below 20-m sea depths). Considering only the technical potential locates in areas with sea depths less than 50 meters to be economical, the available economic potential is merely 715 TWh with an average levelized production cost ranging from 0.419 to 0.975 RMB/kWh (43–100 €/MWh). Through a set of sensitivity analyses, it has been demonstrated that the GIS model may also provide a comprehensive framework for policy makers and investors to understand and strategize for the available offshore potential under different technical, spatial, and economic scenarios now and in the future; the GIS tool and analytical results are also flexible, upgradable, and updatable as more comprehensive and accurate data sets become accessible. |
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