China has taken a very important step to provide its electricity grid with more energy generated by the wind. Since last December 25, the largest offshore wind farm in the Asian giant has been connected at full power with the infrastructure that brings electricity to consumers.
According to Xinhua (via Electrek), the offshore wind farm in question is located off Jiangsu province, 35 kilometers from the city of Qidong. It has 134 turbines that are located in an area of 114.5 square kilometers . A peculiar fact is that the turbines implemented do not correspond to a single model, but are seven variants from four suppliers.
The successful connection to the grid (and at full power) of the largest offshore wind farm in China was due to the implementation of submarine cables. According to State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power Co. Ltd., the project has a total installed power generation capacity of 802 MW . But this is not all, since it promises to provide about 2,200 million kWh of electricity annually; that is, the equivalent of what approximately 900 thousand households consume for a whole year.
China wants to provide its electricity grid with more energy from renewable sources
That China adopts new measures to favor the use of electricity generated through renewable sources is undoubtedly to applaud. However, there is a reason why it occurs in Jiangsu and not in other territories of this country; It is one of the most prosperous provinces in the Asian giant , and it leads in areas such as economy, technological development and tourism. In fact, the region has undergone a transition with which it intends for 37% of the energy in its electrical network to come from renewable sources; But the focus is not only on the wind effort, but also on the use of solar energy.
Wikimedia Commons But the situation in Jiangsu contrasts with that of other provinces in China. Let us remember that during this year the Asian giant has had severe problems with the provision of electricity . Companies like Apple and Tesla have been affected by the restrictions on the use of electrical energy that the Chinese government imposed throughout 2021; This has been seen especially in regions that depend on coal to generate it, given its scarcity.
Also in the middle of this year, China toughened its stance against cryptocurrencies and banned both mining and transactions with them. At the time, the greatest damage was against Bitcoin, and the main motive of the authorities was to prevent citizens from governing their economy outside of the state umbrella.
However, there was also an important interest in disconnecting mining farms to reduce electricity consumption; and the measure was effective, as the severe campaign caused energy use to automatically drop 8 gigawatts . The latter is not a minor fact; Keep in mind that currently China's total offshore wind capacity is between 10 and 12 gigawatts.
