China’s central government has approved Shanghai’s plan to build 29 GW of offshore wind power, part of the city’s strategy to build more energy infrastructure and diversify its electricity mix. The plan was reportedly devised by the Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, with the aim of having offshore wind power generate as much as 100 TWh of renewable energy annually. Chinese media reported on July 22 that the plan was made public during a recent meeting of the Shanghai Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). The initiative would reportedly promote “the transformation of the energy structure and Shanghai’s implementation of the dual-carbon strategy,” which officials said focuses on transforming Shanghai’s energy mix structure to achieve carbon neutrality. Officials said the meeting was part of a broader set of initiatives by the CPPCC to move Shanghai toward better alignment with China’s national climate goals.
Integration of renewable energy
The Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission has said the city will integrate renewable energy sources, including offshore wind, with electricity from existing generation systems in the regional grid. Officials said a key project under China’s 14th Five-Year Plan, a series of social and economic development initiatives issued by the Chinese Communist Party since 1953, would send electricity from Mongolia’s Kubuqi Desert to Shanghai. That project is expected to supply the city with more than 40 TWh of power annually, at least half of which will come from renewables. The Reform Commission has said Shanghai will also focus on a “first build, then reform” development of coal-fired power plants. The China Energy News Agency has said coal-fired generation is needed to support a stable electricity supply until long-term energy storage becomes more widely available. China is the world leader in operating offshore wind energy generation capacityand the country dominates global wind turbine production. Global Energy Monitor said the country had installed 31.4 GW by the end of 2022. The Global Wind Energy Council said China added another 6.3 GW of offshore wind capacity in 2023. —Darrell Proctor is senior associate editor for POWER (@POWERmagazine).
