Inner Mongolia moves towards energy era

Looking forward to more support

"Inner Mongolia doesn't consume a lot of wind power. Big consumers are far away from the region. This calls for long-distance transmission, which requires accelerating grid construction," said an official from Dongfang Turbine Co at the fifth China Inner Mongolia International Coal and New Energy Industry Expo and International Wind Power Generation Industry Expo on Sept 6, 2013. The region has abundant wind resources, but if grid connection and access problems can't be solved, new energy development will be hindered, according to the official.

The national renewable energy law stipulates that the power grid must purchase a certain amount of renewable resources-based electricity, but there have been no specific purchase standards, according to an official with the local energy development bureau. Therefore, uncertainty exists in renewable resources-based electricity purchase.

In addition, the region has a long heating period in winter, which consumes lots of coal, causing environment pollution. Therefore, the local energy development bureau has begun many wind power-based heating projects since 2011 to encourage use of clean energy. Those projects have all been in good running since completion, which proved that using wind power to produce heat and manufacturing high load products is an effective way to consume wind power. However, there has been no definite price support policy, said the official.

It's important to formulate renewable energy purchase implementation rules, standards and support policies; unveil renewable energy quota management methods; and establish a trading platform, according to the official. In addition, Inner Mongolia should speed up the construction of power delivery channels, especially extra-high voltage AC/DC channels, to adjacent provinces to increase power delivery capacity and ensure a quota of 30-percent wind power in power grid transmission by 2020. The region should transport wind and thermal power to North and Central China, and help make full use of clean energy.

Dreams come true

China planned 12 power delivery channels at the national energy work meeting this year, four of them involve Inner Mongolia. The four extra-high voltage lines will connect Xilin Gol League to Shandong, Xilin Gol League to Jiangsu, West Inner Mongolia to Shandong, and West Inner Mongolia to Tianjin.

Bater, chairman of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, pointed out that the four lines will play a significant role in breaking through problems in the region's power delivery and accelerating the construction of clean energy export facility. “They offer great opportunities for the region to speed up energy development, optimize economic structure, and shift the development model,” said Bater. The four lines are expected to have a power deliver capacity of 31 million kilowatts. They involve a total investment of 263.7 billion yuan ($42.5 billion), including 200 billion yuan from inside the region.

At the moment, preliminary work has basically been completed, and the project feasibility study report has passed evaluations. The region also commissioned the Electric Power Planning and Engineering Institute to help with Xilin Gol and Erdos coal and electricity facilities, which are scheduled to begin construction this year.