Research on the Influence of Development Scenarios on the OLCOE of Wind Power: A Case Study of China

Abstract

To achieve a high penetration of renewable energy, wind power development in China has gradually moved to diverse manifestation (e.g., centralized onshore, low wind speed, and offshore wind power). However, preexisting studies regarding wind power cost neglect to consider the respective characteristics of different development scenarios. In this paper, the overall levelized cost of energy (OLCOE) model is established for different scenarios. Taking China's wind farm data as an example, the impact of development scenarios and wind power permeability on OLCOE and its cost components is quantitatively analysed. The results show that, (1) in the low penetration scenario, low wind speed power has the best economy and is beneficial to the conventional units; (2) the large-scale development of offshore wind power requires a reduction in the cost of offshore wind turbines and submarine cables; and (3) at present, onshore centralized wind power has economic advantages, but there is little room for its cost reduction.