Investigation on Grid

Connections of Wind Power

and PV Power in China
● State Electricity Regulatory Commission

Abstract: In order to fully comprehend the developing status of wind power and photovoltaic (PV)
power generation, a special investigation on the integration of wind power and PV power was launched
by the agencies of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) throughout China during July–
October 2010. This report is completed based on the investigation along with routine supervisory and
management programs. There are totally 573 wind power projects and 94 PV power projects involved.
Existing problems in these projects are pointed out and proposals for regulation are put forward.
Keywords: wind power; PV solar power; grid integration; electricity tariff

construction, with 15 896.2 MW of wind power and

General situation 210.3 MW of PV solar power.

Development The distributions of on-grid installed capacity of wind

In recent years, wind power and PV solar power have power and PV solar power by regions are demonstrated in
been developed rapidly. The investigation shows that by figures 1 and 2, respectively.
the end of June 2010, the total installed capacity of wind
power and PV solar power completed and integrated
reached 22 136.7 MW, accounting for 2.46% of the
nationwide total generation capacity, among which the on-
grid installed capacity of wind power was 22 003.7 MW
and that of PV solar power was 133.0 MW. The installed
capacity of wind power and PV solar power already
completed but not connected to the grid added up to
765.2 MW, among which 763.6 MW was the capacity
of wind power and 1.6 MW was the capacity of PV solar
power. The scale of wind power and PV solar power
under construction reached 16 106.5 MW, accounting for Fig. 1 On-grid wind power installed capacity by
about 8.66% of the state’s total installed capacity under regions by the end of June 2010

40 ELECTRICITY 2011.3

Fig. 2 On-grid PV power installed capacity by regions
by the end of June 2010
Investment entities
The investment entities of wind power and PV power
are quite different. For wind power, the investment entities
are mainly focused on the state-owned central enterprises
and the local state-owned generation investment
enterprises in regions with abundant wind resources. By
the end of June 2010, there were ten generation groups
with their own on-grid installed capacity exceeding
500 MW, totaling 16 689.7 MW and accounting for
75.85% nationwide, among which there were three
generation groups with more than 2 000 MW on-grid
installations, i.e., China Guodian Corporation, China
Datang Corporation and China Huaneng Group.
By the end of June 2010, there were seven generation
groups with the wind power installations under
construction exceeding 500 MW, among which the
capacity of China Guodian Corporation, China Datang
Corporation and China Huaneng Corporation all
exceeded 1 500 MW while that of China Shenhua Group
Corporation Ltd., China Huadian Corporation, China
Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation and China Power
Investment Corporation was between 500–1 000 MW.
At present, the PV power is still at the experimental
and exploratory stage in China with small projects being
invested and constructed. The investment entities tend
to be diversified. By the end of June 2010, the on-grid
installed capacity of PV power of both China Energy
Conservation and Environmental Protection Group
and Jiangsu Zhongneng Silicon Industry Science and
Technology Corporation Ltd. had all reached 20 MW.
Among the on-grid PV power generation projects,
the biggest one was the 20-MW Xuzhou Xiexin PV
Power Generation Corporation Ltd. invested by Jiangsu
Zhongneng Silicon Industry Science and Technology
Corporation Ltd. The PV power projects that were under
construction by both Gansu Province Electric Power
Investment Group Corporation and Hainan Development
Holding Corporation Ltd. had reached 20 MW in capacity.
Among the projects under construction, the 20-MW on-
grid PV power demonstration project in Lin’gao, Hainan
and the 18-MW Shiliying PV power project in Jining,
Shangdong are two big ones.
Feed-in tariff and subsidy
Due to different pricing system and construction costs,
the feed-in tariffs of wind power and PV power differ in
different provinces even in different projects of the same
province.
For wind power projects approved before August
1, 2009, some are applied with concession bidding
tariff system while others are applied with government
approved tariff system. However, for those approved after
August 1, 2009, the newly constructed onshore projects
in the four-category wind resources regions are uniformly
applied with local wind power benchmark tariffs. So far,
the highest feed-in tariff is applied in Linhai Wind Farm
and Cangnan Wind Farm affiliated to Guodian Longyuan
Power Corporation Ltd., both located in Zhejiang
Province, hitting 1.4040 yuan/kWh.
As a rule, the feed-in tariff for PV power is determined
by local governments since the state has not yet
implemented uniformed feed-in tariff policy for PV
power. Among the approved PV power projects, the
Shanghai Qianweicun PV Power Station has the highest
feed-in tariff, which is 6.4436 yuan/kWh, while the lowest
is 1.0928 yuan/kWh for Gangsu Duanhuang PV Power
Project of China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation.
The investigation also indicates that the implement-
ation of the subsidy policies for wind power and PV
power is satisfactory; the wind power and PV power
projects in the Renewable Energy Electricity Price
Subsidy List jointly released by the National Development
and Reform Commission and the State Electricity
Regulatory Commission between January–June 2009 and
July–December 2009 have, by and large, received the
relevant electricity price subsidy.
Construction of grid connection system
Since the implementation of the state’s subsidy
policy for the construction of renewable energy power
connecting system, which gives electricity enterprises
the incentive to invest in the construction of the
connecting system for wind power and PV power, the
scale of the connecting system in operation has rapidly
increased.
41
2011.3 ELECTRICITY
 By the end of June 2010, the line length of the wind among which that of wind power was 22.254 TWh and
power connecting system was 10 326 km with the that of PV power was 51.76 GWh (see figures 3 and 4 for
transformation capacity of 38.98 GVA (see tables 1 and 2). details).

Table 1 Line length and transformation capacity of

wind power connecting system by voltage levels
Voltage level 330 kV 220 kV 110 kV 66 kV or below

Line length (km) 666 4 202 3 733 1 725

Ratio to total length (%) 6.45 40.69 36.15 16.71

Transformation capacity
5.04 17.65 12.29 3.99
(GVA)

Ratio to total capacity (%) 12.93 45.29 31.54 10.24

Fig. 3 Feed-in wind power generation by regions
between January and June 2010
The scale of PV power connecting systems was
relatively small with the line length of 134 km and
transformation capacity of 0.22 GVA in total and the
main voltage level of 35 kV, among which the line length
and the transformation capacity invested and constructed
by generation enterprises was 109 km and 0.19 GVA,
accounting for 81.34% and 86.36%, respectively. In terms
of provinces, the scale in Ningxia, Gansu and Shandong
was relatively larger with the line length over 29 km and
the transformation capacity over 37 MVA respectively all
Fig. 4 Feed-in PV generation by regions between
in these provinces.
January and June 2010

Table 2 Line length and transformation capacity of Depending on grid security and other factors, some
wind power connecting system by entities amount of the electricity generated by the on-grid wind
power or PV power equipment might not be able to
Line be connected to the grids. Statistics on this amount of
Number Transformation
Investment entity
of projects
length
capacity (GVA)
electricity which was not acquired by the grids has been
(km) conducted by the investigation this time. Between January
and June 2010, the amount of wind power unbought was
Value 213 4 444 19.14 2.776 TWh while there was no unbought amount of PV
Grid enterprises Ratio to the
43.12 43.04 49.10 power (see Table 3). Between January 2009 and June
total (%)
2010, the unbought wind power in Hebei, Gansu and
Value 278 5 698 19.61 Helongjiang were all around 0.3 TWh.
Generation
enterprises Ratio to the
56.28 55.18 50.31
total (%)
Table 3 Unbought wind power in regions between
Value 3 184 0.23
Grid and generation January and June 2010
enterprises jointly Ratio to the
0.61 1.78 0.59
total (%) Ratio to the Comparison between
Amount
nationwide the unbought ratio
Region unbought
total unbought and the acquired
Acquisition of on-grid electricity (TWh)
amount (%) ratio (%)
In 2009, the on-grid generation amount of wind power
and PV power added up to 25.615 TWh, accounting for North China 1.588 57.20 14.64

0.70% of the overall generation of the state, among which Northeast China 1.064 38.33 6.66
that of wind power was 25.610 TWh and that of PV Inner Mongolia 2.101 75.68 43.40
power was 5.6 GWh. From January to July 2010, the total
Jilin 0.260 - -
on-grid wind and PV power generation was 22.305 TWh,

42 ELECTRICITY 2011.3

Existing Problems
● The coordination between wind power
development and project approval needs to be further
enhanced.
It is difficult to accommodate wind power in some
regions. In those regions with abundant wind power
resources, the planning for wind power development
has been focused on resources rather than delivery and
accommodation, leading to serious contradiction in
transmission and accommodation of bulk wind power.
The wind resources in West Inner Mongolia grid are
abundant. By the end of June 2010, its on-grid installed
capacity and the capacity under construction amounted to
4.89 GW and 0.85 GW, respectively. Aside from being
accommodated locally, the rest of on-grid amount of
wind power has to be transmitted to the North China grid.
However, along with the commissioning of bulk installed
capacity of wind power in succession in Zhangjiakou
and Chengde in Hebei Province, the North China grid
has to face the challenges to accommodate the local wind
power, which in turn makes the problem of wind power
accommodation in West Inner Mongolia grid deteriorate.
By the end of June 2010, about 1-GW capacity out of the
planned 10-GW capacity of Jiuquan Wind Power Base
in Gansu Province had been connected to grids, which
could not be completely accommodated by Jiuquan and
Hexi region, but mostly has to be transmitted to Lanzhou
load center. By estimation the maximum dispatchable
load within Gansu Province would be about 10 GW in
2010. However, the installed capacity to be completed
by the end of 2010 would amount to around 5 GW in
Jiuquan Wind Power Base, far beyond the consumption
demand of Jiuquan and Hexi region. It is predicted that
the power generation of Jiuquan Wind Power Base will
reach about 25 TWh in 2015, which would be difficult
to be accommodated in Gansu Province or even in the
Northwest power grid. Unfortunately the accommodation
market and its supporting grids outside the Northwest
grid are still uncertain. It is similar to the situation in
Baicheng, Jilin Province with a quite weak grid structure
and a limited transmission capability. As the regional load
is rather low and the wind power could not be completely
accommodated locally, the production of wind power
enterprises has been frequently restricted. For example, in
2009 the amount of wind power generated by Jilin Datong
Wind Farm under China Datang Corporation that failed
to be connected to the grid amounted to 14.88 GWh,
accounting for 14.7% of the total on-grid amount of the
year with the utilization hours reduced by 300 hours.
The coordination between the construction of power
sources and power grids needs to be enhanced. Due to
the fact that the preliminary workflow for wind power
projects is relatively simple, the approval process is fast
and the construction period is relatively short while the
gird connecting system is relatively complicated in terms
of project approval, scheme making and construction, it
is difficult to complete the connecting system projects
with the wind farms simultaneously. For example, the
Phase I Project of Wulijimuren Wind Farm of Huaneng
Cogeneration Company, the Phase I Project of Erergetu
Wind Farm and the Phase I Project of Baiyun Wind Farm
which are affiliated to Inner Mongolia Power Corporation,
were expected to be put into operation by the end of 2010.
However, up to now their connecting systems have not
been approved, which results in the failure in transmitting
the wind power in due time. The wind power in Inner
Mongolia has to be transmitted to Beijing-Tianjin-
Tangshan region through the West-to-East Electricity
Transmission channels, but the capacity of the two
channels now available is limited, and only a little amount
of wind power can be transmitted through these transfer
paths. The the third path has been planned as early as
2006, however, up to now the construction has not begun
yet.
The development of wind power and other power
sources is not balanced in a few regions. The proportion of
heat supply units to thermal power units in the Northeast
region is high (e.g. 72% in Jilin Province). The heat
supply units are incapable of peak shaving in the winter
heat supply season while the small and medium thermal
power units for startup, shutdown or peak shaving have
gradually been closed down. The construction of pumped-
storage hydropower stations and gas-turbine units is
relatively slow. Under the condition that the capability of
peak shaving is severely insufficient, the dispatch system
has to restrict the output of wind power at valley load
hours so as to ensure grid security and household heating.
The installed capacity of wind power in West Inner
Mongolia grid has already reached 24.52% of the grid’s
maximum load. In the period of heat supply in winter and
at valley load hours, the grid also has to restrict the output
of wind power so as to ensure the secure operation of the
power system.
● Relevant policies and incentive mechanisms need
to be further improved.
So far, China has formulated a series of policies,
regulations and incentive mechanisms to encourage
the development of wind power and PV power, but the
43
2011.3 ELECTRICITY
completeness of the system and the coordination between
relevant policies still need to be enhanced.
The supporting policies for PV power need to be
improved. Up to now no feed-in tariff about PV power or
detailed implementation rules concerning the construction
of PV power have ever been enacted at the state level,
which restricts the bulk development of PV power
industry. What is more, there is no supporting policies
with regard to distributed PV power connecting to
distribution network (user’s side), one of the major types
of the PV power in the future such that the incentives
to investment in small PV power projects are greatly
undermined.
National provisions for the investment, operation and
maintenance of connecting systems for renewable energy
power need to be improved. The insufficient subsidy
to some of the connecting systems has undermined the
investment incentives of grid enterprises. As wind power
projects are usually located in areas far away from load
centers, the construction workload and investment amount
of their supporting connecting systems are huge while the
line utilization ratio is low. The current subsidy standard
for the connecting system cannot meet the requirements
of some projects in terms of the investment, operation
and maintenance of grids. For example, the Shanghai
Electricity Corporation invested 65.28 million yuan
in constructing the connecting system for the East Sea
Bridge Offshore Wind Power Project, which will take
32 years to recoup the static investment according to the
current electricity price subsidy policy. The investigation
shows that all or part of the connecting system projects
in Helongjiang, Shandong, Zhejiang, Inner Mongolia,
Liaoning and Xinjiang are invested by generation
enterprises and some generation enterprises are even
responsible for the operation and maintenance of these
projects, which is not good for the security management
of the projects.
Electricity price was not subsidized in time. The
subsidy for the electricity price of wind power or PV
power was usually granted far behind the time when
the power was connected to the grid. Consequently, the
generation enterprises couldn’t obtain the subsidy in
time and their economic benefits have been affected.
Some small generation enterprises may even suffer the
difficulties in the cash flow.
A few historical issues need to be addressed. Wind
power and other renewable energy projects approved
before 2006 are not eligible for obtaining the electricity
44 ELECTRICITY 2011.3
price subsidy provided in the Provisional Measures of
Allocating the Additional Income of Renewable Energy
Electricity Price, which increases enterprises’ operation
burden. For example, the Chongming, Nanhui and
Fengxian Gulf wind farms in Shanghai and the Linhai
and Cangnan wind farms in Zhejiang Province were all
put into operation before 2006 with high feed-in tariff.
They are not eligible to obtain the compensation from
renewable energy additional funds, therefore, their
electricity purchase cost for grid enterprises increases.
● The management of integration and operation
needs to be further regulated and improved.
There are two problems existing in the current grid
connecting systems of wind power or PV power.
The lack of clear definition of wind power connecting
system leads to different understanding from different
parties. Some argue that it includes the step-up substation
of wind farms and the line from the step-up substation to
the first base tower of incoming feeder on the grid side;
some argue that it is the line from the first base tower of
the outgoing feeder of wind farms to the first base tower
of incoming feeder on the grid side; others argue that it
is the line from the first base tower of outgoing feeder
of wind farms to the first base tower of incoming feeder
on the grid side and the incoming feeder spacing on the
grid side. Different understanding would easily result
in different opinions in the process of construction and
different statistical approaches.
Standards and regulations regarding grid connection
and dispatch management of wind power or PV power
need to be further regulated and improved in light of the
features of wind power and PV power. At present, there is
no national standard for the integration of wind farm. For
the purpose of addressing the problems of LVRT, reactive
power absorption, power system security and stability, the
Technical Rules for Wind Farm Integration formulated
by the State Grid has come into force, which requires that
wind farms connect to power networks after they meet
relevant technical standards and have carried out technical
innovation. With this rule, wind farm integration has
been regulated to some extent. However, it is a rule of an
enterprise rather than of the state, which may easily bring
the grids into conflicts with wind farms.
● Impacts of bulk development on the secure and
stable operation of grids have been increasing.
Both wind and PV solar power generation have the
characteristics of intermittence and randomness, and
wind power has another feature of anti-peak shaving as
well, which presents new challenges to the power flow
control in the power system, ancillary service dispatch,
short-circuit current control and electricity quality, etc. At
present, grid enterprises are unable to make out day-ahead
plans according to the wind power prediction because the
wind power prediction system is imperfect, and there is
a lack of fundamental and accurate data. Therefore, there
are strong uncertainties in the arrangement of operation
approaches. Located in the northwest of Gansu Province
and at the end of Gansu grid, the Jiuquan grid with bulk
wind power integrated has seen various kinds of stability
issues such as transient stability and difficulties in peak
regulation in actual operation. In 2009, the maximum
load difference between peak and valley in Fujian grid
reached 6.36 GW with the peak regulation capability of
some large thermal units reaching about 60% in actual
operation, which is close to or approaches the regulation
limits of the units. Along with more wind power to be put
into operation during the National Twelfth Five-Year Plan
period, the demanding for peak regulation of the system
will be even higher, which exerts greater pressure on the
peak regulation capability for power grids.
Recommendations for regulation
● Scientific planning shall be enhanced to promote
the coordinative and orderly development of wind
power and PV power.
In light of the national renewable energy development
strategy and the Medium- and Long-Term Program
for Renewable Energy Development, according to
the characteristics of wind power and PV power
combined with the factors such as energy resources,
power source infrastructure, electricity consumption
market, transmission corridor, grid construction and
grid operation, the local wind power or PV power
development plan shall be improved to develop wind
power and other renewable energies on the basis of local
conditions and realize the harmonious development
between power sources and resources, between power
sources and grids, between power sources and power
sources, as well as between power sources and users.
To build large power generation bases in areas rich in
wind power or solar power resources, the grid frame
and accommodation capability shall be taken into full
consideration, the connection of wind power or PV
power to grids shall be well planned so as to promote the
coordinative development of wind power or PV power
and maintain the secure and stable operation of the power
system. To develop the resources in areas around load
centers, distributed power sources shall be constructed and
connected to the nearby distribution network according to
local conditions and from the aspects favorable to energy
conservation, emission reduction and the enhancement
of electricity supply. Meanwhile, the approval and
regulatory mechanism for wind power projects shall be
straightened out between the central government and local
governments to regularize the development and utilization
of wind power, rationalize the distribution of wind power
and avoid disorderly and casual development.
● Policies on price, finance and taxation as well
as the incentive mechanism for wind power and PV
power shall be improved.
As the technologies for wind power and PV power are
still under development, their construction costs are rather
high with weak economic competitiveness in the market.
Therefore, it is necessary to keep on strengthening the
policy support to promote their continuous and healthy
development. First, studies on levying energy tax or
carbon tax shall be carried out to establish the funding
sources for the subsidy to the stable and sustainable
development of wind power and PV power. Second,
studies on the financial and taxation policies with regard
to supporting the development of wind power and PV
power shall be enhanced to combine the development of
wind power or PV power with the development of local
economy so as to establish competitive industries that
could promote regional economic development. Third,
the compensation mechanism for electricity price shall
be improved to increase the timeliness of the subsidy
to wind power and PV power prices and scientifically
make out the compensation standard for the construction
of connecting systems. Fourth, pricing policies for PV
power generation shall be improved and the scientific and
reasonable police for feed-in price shall be put forward.
Fifth, the innovation on commercial model shall be
encouraged to support enterprises to enter markets and
create innovative commercial models.
● Integration and operation shall be well managed
to meet the requirements for the bulk development of
wind power and PV power.
First, studies on the grid connection and operation
security of wind power and PV power shall be carried out
such that relevant technical standards can be established
and the adverse impacts of wind power or PV power
on the security and stability of the power system can be
reduced.
45
2011.3 ELECTRICITY
 Second, the security assessment on wind power or PV
power integration , the management on the compensation
for ancillary services and the management on wind
power or PV power dispatch shall be carried out in order
to systematically improve the regulation on the grid
connection and operation of wind power and PV power.
The cooperation between generation enterprises and
grid enterprises in wind power and PV power integration
and accommodation shall be strengthened. The generation
enterprises shall actively collaborate with grid enterprises
by putting forward feasible delivery and accommodation
schemes and submitting them to the authorized
departments of the government for confirmation. On the
other hand, when the grid enterprises start to process
the application for grid connection from a wind power
or a PV power project, they shall prepare carefully the
transmission line, grid structure and terminal for the
project according to the requirements of grid development
plans and wind power or PV power project plans, speed
(Continued from P39)
air heater which can play a role of the steam-air heater
or the hot air recirculation system, shortening the startup
period for the steam-air heater or the hot air recirculation
system consequently and improving the economics of the
unit.
The temperature of the hot primary air can be raised
by reducing the flow rate of the cooling medium passing
through the hot primary air heater if the exhaust gas
temperature drops under the dew-point temperature for
the running unit with some cold air being mixed into the
pulverized coal system in such case, which could rise the
exhaust gas temperature to a certain extent. Although the
maximum rise of the exhaust gas temperature is less than
20 ℃, it is enough to keep the exhaust gas temperature
over the dew-point temperature when the atmospheric
temperature and the unit load change, which could
shorten the startup period for the steam-air heater or the
hot air recirculation system. This application is a unique
advantage of the hot primary air heater to drop the exhaust
gas temperature.
Conclusions
1) The hot primary air heater is developed to reduce
the amount of the cold air into the pulverized coal system.
It can lower the temperature of the hot primary air at the
inlet of the pulverizer effectively and recover some heat
from the hot primary air. Consequently, the proportion
46 ELECTRICITY 2011.3
up the upgrading of grids, improve the grid structure,
and perform feasibility studies on connecting system
project to select the connection plan on merit order. By
proactively providing grid connection services for the
wind power or PV power, the grid enterprises can hence
ensure the timely on-grid operation of the generation
project. In addition, on the premise that the power system
security and stability is ensured, grid enterprises shall
strictly comply with the requirements of the Renewable
Energy Act and other laws and regulations to purchase
the on-grid electricity at the feed-in price approved by the
state’s relevant department of price administration. They
also have to strictly implement the price policy for feed-
in tariff for wind power and PV power, do a better job in
the distribution of additional electricity price and achieve
sufficient and timely electricity settlement.
Translated by Zhang Sufang
Edited by Zhang Yan
of the cold air into the pulverizer could be under 3% or
even be zero and the exhaust gas temperature of the boiler
drops successfully.
2) The hot primary air heater could be used to adjust
the exhaust gas temperature of the boiler. Though the hot
primary air heater cannot replace the steam-air heater or
the hot air recirculation system completely because of the
limited adjustment, it could effectively shorten the starting
period of the steam-air heater or the hot air recirculation
system.
3) The hot primary air heater could be a high-pressure
heater, a low-pressure heater or just an economizer. Each
type has its own advantages and disadvantages and will be
suitable for some certain external conditions. Therefore,
its application depends on the practical situation when
reconstructing a certain boiler. The technologies and
economics should be compared and analyzed for making
the best choice.
Reference
[1] Wang C C. The instruction leaflet of the patent on hot
primary air heater and its related system for coal-fired
boiler in power plant [R]. Shaanxi: Xi’an Thermal
Power Research Institute Co., Ltd., 2009.
Translated by Zhu Xianran
Edited by Zhang Yan