The first batch of six-star benchmark power plant of CR Power, the project winning the only special prize of the National Thermal Power Unit Competition, and several first prizes, and the large-scale flat-land wind plant in the densely populated area of the inland… In Henan, the birthplace of Chinese civilization, there are several typical energy projects in CR Power System.
The diverse geo-hydrological environment and natural resource conditions have created a diversified energy supply structure in Henan Province. On this exciting land in the Central Plains, CR Power Central-West China Region has vigorously developed clean energy and comprehensive energy services while continuously optimizing the existing coal and motor units, exploring a new clean and efficient development path through continuous innovation under the environment of power supply exceeding demand and environmental protection pressure in Henan Province.
Development of Wind Power Market with Accurate Judgment
According to Xin Wenda, general manager of CR Power Central-West China Region, as of October 31 this year, CR Power Central-West China Region has installed 585,000 kilowatts of wind power connected to grid in Henan. Among them, the Neihuang Project is planned to have a wind power capacity of 400,000 kilowatts, which is the largest single new energy project of CR Power and the largest single flat-land wind plant in the country. "It is expected that by the end of November, our installed capacity of wind power will exceed 600,000 kilowatts." Xin Wenda said.
In recent years, CR Power has accelerated the layout of wind power projects in Henan, and has established regional companies in the key regions of Anyang, Zhumadian and Nanyang. It is understood that CR Power Central-West China Region has approved a wind power project of 1.02 million kilowatts in Anyang. By the end of 2020, CR Power's installed wind power capacity in Henan will exceed 2.5 million kilowatts.
On the vast plain of Henan Province, wind turbines are springing up one after another. However, just a few years ago, Henan's wind resources were considered “of no development value".
According to the annual average wind speed, China's wind resource areas are divided into categories I, II, III, and IV areas. Henan Province is the Category IV resource area with the worst wind resource conditions, and the wind speed is low. In the traditional concept, the wind power projects in low wind speed areas are of less economic value. On the other hand, the wind resources in the three northern regions are in good condition, but the economy of the wind power project cannot reach the expected level due to insufficient local electricity demand, weak electricity consumption and many restrictions on power distribution.
While the industry is worried about the economics of wind power, the height of the wind turbine tower is gradually increasing, and the diameter of the impeller is becoming larger. The innovation of wind power technology has begun to change the pattern of the wind power industry. CR Power immediately turned its attention to the eastern and central regions with more developed economy and more concentrated population and electricity load.
“We have calculated that every rise of 10 meters of wind turbine towers can increase the equipment utilization hours by about 100 hours.” Xin Wenda told reporters that CR Power took a fancy to the development prospect of fan technology and judged that the market share of low-speed wind turbines would gradually increase. At the end of the period of the 12th Five-Year Plan, CR Power began to study the possibility of wind power projects in the central and eastern provinces. With the rapid development of low wind speed wind turbines, the economic return of wind power projects in plain areas has been greatly increased.
“Various wind turbine manufacturers have also seen the market for low wind speed wind turbines. The tower height of mainstream wind turbines is basically growing at a rate of 10 meters per year. During the “12th Five-Year Plan" period, the tower of the mainstream fan type in the three northern regions was 60m-80m high. At this height, the value to develop wind resources in Henan is very low. At present, we have built five test wind turbines in the area of the Neihuang project, of which the highest 140-meter fan has been used up to 2600 hours, resulting in high economic value."
Further Tapping the Potential of Coal Power by Clean Utilization
In 2002, CR Power built two 300,000-kilowatt units in Dengfeng City, Henan Province in accordance with the concept of building “a Beijing-Guangzhou line and three deltas”. Today, CR Power's installed coal power capacity in Henan has reached 5.25 million kilowatts. However, due to the influence of economic situation, Henan's coal-fired power generation units as a whole have been in a state of oversupply, and improving quality and increasing efficiency has become a “urgent task" for coal-fired power enterprises.
In June 2015, the unit 1 of CR Power's Shouyangshan Power Plant took the lead in completing the ultra-low emission transformation in Henan Province. In the following year, the units of CR Power's Dengfeng, Gucheng, Jiaozuo and Luoyang power plants also completed the renovation one after another, with a total investment of RMB 575 million. On June 27, 2016, CR Power took the lead in realizing ultra-low emissions in all thermal power units in Henan with the completion of the renovation of Unit 3 of Dengfeng Power Plant.
“While meeting the requirements of environmental protection , we also need to carry out technical transformations on energy saving and consumption reduction.” Xin Wenda said, "At the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan Period, the average power supply coal consumption of the active coal power units will be reduced to below 310 g/kWh for 300,000 kWh units and below 300 g/kWh for 600,000 kWh units. At present, the units of Shouyangshan Power Plant and Gucheng Power Plant are undergoing energy-saving improvement. Dengfeng Project has completed the energy-saving improvement of two units and is currently proceeding with the heating and heat supply reform of “distribution of Zhengzhou's heat from the East to the West".
It is estimated that by the end of 2019, the coal-fired power units of CR Power in Henan will all achieve the goal of energy-saving renovation.
In addition to energy conservation and environmental protection, CR Power also continues to pay attention to the relationship between production and operation and urban development. CR Power (Luoyang) Thermal Power Co., Ltd. was originally a geothermal power plant supplying heat to Yanshi City, but later gradually processed industrial scraps and sludge, especially with the development of the city, more and more service items were involved in the thermal power plant.
On January 17, 2017, CR Power (Luoyang) Thermal Power Co., Ltd. was officially renamed as CR Power (Luoyang) Environmental Protection Energy Co., Ltd., and its business lines were changed from “the production and sales of cogeneration and fly ash” to “urban solid waste and sludge harmless treatment, harmless treatment of general industrial waste, harmless disposal of sick and dead livestock and environmental protection, production and sales of compressed air, cogeneration and production and sales of fly ash". CR Power's Gucheng Power Plant in Henan used the treated and blended white mud, a byproduct of the local pillar industry-papermaking industry, to replace the desulfurizer. Then, it explored the harmless disposal of hazardous waste residues produced by bio-pharmaceutical companies, and obtained the “Henan Provincial Hazardous Waste Management Permit" issued by the Henan Provincial Environmental Protection Department, further expanding the scope of urban waste disposal.
Power plants can no longer just focus on generating electricity, and must improve coupling with the cities.” Xin Wenda said, "The power plant should strengthen its bond with the city and residents and gradually become one of the links in the operation of the city, creating more living space and economic benefits for enterprises."
Respond to Reform and Expand Comprehensive Services
While improving quality and efficiency of coal-fired power plants and actively developing clean energy, CR Power has also begun to explore distributed energy in Henan. According to the plan, CR Power will build a gas distributed energy project in the experimental area of Zhengzhou Airport in Henan Province to supply heat, electricity and cooling to the port and its surrounding areas. It is learnt that the project has been approved and will start construction by the end of this year.
“Distributed energy is an important development direction in key cities such as Zhengzhou and Luoyang.” Xin Wenda said, "Distributed energy projects can gradually replace high energy consumption and high emission energy supply projects by promoting clean energy use, and will become an important form of urban energy use in the future."
In addition, CR Power has established CR Power (Henan) Sales Co., Ltd. in response to the power system reform to carry out sales of electricity. Up to now, the market power of CR Power's coal power units in Henan has accounted for more than 60% of the total power. From 2017 to 2018, CR Power's trading volume in Henan's electricity market remained the first for two consecutive years.
“As far as the business model is concerned, the electricity sales company should not only adopt a single purchase and marketing price differential model.” Xin Wenda believes that the current electricity sales business is only the "primary mode" of the electricity sales company. We will make full use of our professional advantages in equipment maintenance, overhauling, energy efficiency management and other aspects to provide users with comprehensive energy services such as electricity monitoring, equipment maintenance and energy-saving renovation suggestions on the energy consumption side based on energy efficiency data, so as to meet the user's cost requirements and improve the user's energy efficiency. The electricity sales company can also take advantage of our multi-format advantages in energy distribution to form a multi-energy complementary mode of electricity, heat, cold, gas and energy storage to diversify energy supply. In the future, the electricity sales company will integrate resources to form a business model of “electricity sales + energy side services" and become comprehensive energy service providers in the future market, which is also the important role of the electricity sales company."