Hainan, the southernmost provincial administrative region in China, is surrounded by the Beibu Gulf, Qiongzhou Strait and the South China Sea. Hainan has a tropical monsoon marine climate. The wind speed in its western and northern regions and some islands such as the the Xisha Islands can reach 6.5m/s all year round. The surrounding sea areas are extremely rich in wind energy resources. As an important energy strategic deployment area in China, the wind power development in Hainan Province has experienced twists and turns, and finally ushered in a reversal!

Sino foreign cooperation in introducing wind power technology

Hainan Province is one of the earliest regions in China to develop wind power projects. As early as 1985, Dongfang wind power experimental station under Dongfang County Agricultural Committee of Hainan Province introduced 55/11kw wind turbines from Vestas, a foreign wind turbine manufacturer, for experiments to explore the feasibility of building large-scale wind farms. In 1994, the wind power demonstration project of financial cooperation between the Chinese and German governments was started, which is also a new fixed-point project of the ninth five year plan determined by the State Planning Commission and the Ministry of electric power of the people’s Republic of China. In 1997, the project was successfully connected to the grid. Six 250KW wind turbines were installed in Husum, Germany in phase I, and 12 600kW wind turbines were installed in an, Germany in phase II. The total investment of the project was 106million yuan, and the total installed capacity of the project was 8755kw.The successful completion of these wind power projects has opened the history of wind power development in Hainan. At the same time, a number of professional wind power professionals have been trained, laying the foundation for the large-scale development of wind power in Hainan in the future.

Hainan wind power has not increased for many years

However, the good times did not last long. In consideration of ecological and environmental protection, the decision-making level of Hainan Province issued relevant policies and once stopped all offshore wind power projects. Since then, Hainan’s wind power industry has not developed for many years. The installed scale of wind power has dropped from the 6th place in 1997 to the 25th place in 2004, and the development of wind power in Hainan has stagnated since then. In march2018, Hainan Provincial Development and Reform Commission publicly stated that in order to strengthen the protection of the ecological environment and natural landscape, develop marine resources scientifically, rigorously and sustainably, and weigh the benefits and impacts of wind power, Hainan Province stopped developing wind power. In November 2018, Hainan Province sorted out the wind power projects that had not been started as planned since the 12th Five Year Plan.

12.3 million KW of wind power is planned for the “14th five year plan”

It is inevitable to restart wind power in Hainan, but the planned wind power installed capacity in the next five years is 12.3 million KW, which is unexpected, because before that, Hainan has not formed a wind power industry chain that can support such a large-scale construction. In June, 2021, the release of the 14th five year plan for marine economic development of Hainan Province (2021-2025) (hereinafter referred to as the “plan”) has released a policy signal to encourage the development of offshore wind power. The plan specifies that the utilization of offshore wind energy resources should be steadily promoted. We will strengthen the exploration of wind energy resources in the whole island and surrounding waters, promote the development of offshore wind power in a scientific and orderly manner, and encourage the development of offshore wind power. Five offshore wind power development demonstration project sites are selected in the sea area 50 meters away from the northwest of Dongfang, Wenchang, Ledong, Danzhou and Lingao, with a total installed capacity of 3million kW. The production scale will be about 1.2 million kW in 2025. In May, 2022, wind power development in Hainan Province will take a big step. Hainan Province has made it clear that it will intensify the development of offshore wind power during the “fourteenth five year plan”. According to the plan, 11 sites in the northwest of Lingao, the northwest of Danzhou, the west of Dongfang, the west of Ledong and the southeast of Wanning will be the focus of development, with a total development capacity of about 12.3 million KW. At present, the relevant Reply of the national energy administration has been officially issued to Hainan Province. The overall planning scale is about 12.3 million KW, the total site area is about 1902 square kilometers, the water depth is 11-90 meters, and the offshore distance is 10-47 kilometers.

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