Development Potential Assessment for Wind and Photovoltaic Power Energy Resources in the Main Desert–Gobi–Wilderness Areas of China

Abstract

The large-scale centralized development of wind and PV power resources is the key to China’s dual carbon targets and clean energy transition. The vast desert–Gobi–wilderness areas in northern and western China will be the best choice for renewable energy development under multiple considerations of resources endowment, land use constraints, technical conditions, and economic level. It is urgent to carry out a quantitative wind and PV resource assessment study in desert–Gobi–wilderness areas. This paper proposed a multi-dimensional assessment method considering the influence of the power grid and transportation infrastructure distributions, which includes three research levels, namely, the technical installed capacity, the development potential, and the development cost. Nine main desert–Gobi–wilderness areas were assessed. The wind and PV technical installed capacities were 0.6 TW and 10.7 TW, and the total development potentials were over 0.12 TW and 1.2 TW, with the full load hours of 2513 and 1759 and the average development costs of 0.28 CNY/kWh and 0.20 CNY/kWh. Finally, this paper proposed the meteorological–electrical division distribution. A case study in the Kubuqi and Qaidam Deserts was carried out on wind–wind and wind–PV collaborative development across different meteorological–electrical divisions, which can reduce by 58% the long-term energy storage capacity and decrease the total system LCOE from 0.488 CNY/kWh to 0.445 CNY/kWh.