China’s offshore wind energy resources are abundant and the development potential is huge. According to the “China Wind Power Development Roadmap 2050” report of the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s offshore wind energy resources are open to 500 million kilowatts at a depth of 5-50 meters and a height of 100 meters, with a total area of 394,000 square kilometers. At the same time, China has more than 18,000 kilometers of coastline, the available sea area of 3 million square kilometers, especially in the Bohai Sea rim and southeast coastal areas, the effective wind energy density is 200-300 watts/square meter or more, and the number of hours greater than or equal to 3 meters/second is about 7,000 hours a year. The number of hours greater than or equal to 6 m/s is about 4000 hours, which makes the available efficiency of offshore wind power can reach 2 times that of photovoltaic (Class II), which is about 20% higher than that of onshore wind power (Class II), and the area of offshore wind power with the same power generation is 10% smaller than that of onshore wind power and 5% smaller than that of photovoltaic land.

Based on this, China’s offshore wind power has developed rapidly. Data show that by the end of 2021, China’s cumulative installed capacity of offshore wind power has reached 26.39 million kilowatts, accounting for 54% of the global total, ranking first in the world. The wind blowing from the blue sea is becoming a new force to promote China to fulfill its role as a major country and move toward carbon neutrality.

Challenges and opportunities coexist, closely grasp the “big, transport, wisdom, far” industry trend

It should not be ignored that while ushering in rapid development, the harsh environment makes offshore wind power face many challenges. According to statistics, more than 50% of offshore wind power outages are directly related to electrical arteries. The challenges mainly come from three aspects: first, the equipment is far offshore, the operation and maintenance investment is large, and the “multiplier effect” leads to the operation and maintenance cost is more than 20 to 30 times that of the onshore new energy system; Second, the response speed is slow, it is difficult to judge the fault, and the “blind box effect” brings higher operation and maintenance difficulty; Third, the offshore environment changes fast, the time is uncontrollable, and the “channel effect” makes the single failure recovery time as long as 4 to 5 times that of onshore wind power, affecting the power generation. It can be seen that how to ensure the stable operation of offshore fans has become a key factor in the development of offshore fans.

In the process of offshore wind power from the “Red Sea coastal area” to the “blue sea deep water area”, although it faces many difficulties, but under the impetus of the new energy trend, the industry opportunities are still huge, and has shown the characteristics of “large, transport, wisdom, and far”, that is, the single-machine capacity is large, and the project is expanded; Wind farm operation and maintenance to remote, centralized management; Wind farms are moving closer to digital design and intelligent operation and maintenance; The layout plan tends to be further away from the coast, and floating fans are developing rapidly.

As one of the core supports for the construction of a new power system and the formation of an integrated system of source, load and storage, offshore wind power is playing an important role in the “source” end. In the face of the opportunities and challenges of The Times, at the key nodes of promoting the transformation of the energy system, the strong cooperation and joint innovation between the industry’s leading enterprises are highly anticipated.

Joint innovation has yielded fruitful results and continued to deepen the “breakthrough” in the future

Win-win cooperation has become the golden rule in many fields. As an expert in the field of energy management, Schneider Electric also believes that the high-quality development of the offshore wind industry needs to form a more open environment, and break down the barriers between the various links in the industry, actively promote the cooperation and innovation between the upstream and downstream enterprises, constantly introduce disruptive products and solutions, and promote the construction and continuous improvement of the whole industry chain.

In this regard, Schneider Electric always adheres to the open cooperation model, actively promotes the construction of the ecosystem, and constantly contributes its rich experience and innovative vitality accumulated in the industry. For the offshore wind power industry, based on excellent product platforms, strong global and local R&D forces, and outstanding agile development capabilities, Schneider Electric works closely with Mingyang Electric to jointly promote the innovation of related technologies.

According to the cooperation agreement, the two sides will carry out in-depth cooperation in joint product research and development, joint development of industry standards and new business models, and jointly launch the upgrade of the low-voltage distribution cabinet for offshore wind power and the MVS-T series of wind power special circuit breakers to ensure that the equipment parameters are met, and further complete the development of high-power offshore wind power low-voltage distribution standards.

After a series of division of labor and close cooperation such as demand transformation, program design, verification and delivery, optimization iteration, as well as standard drafting and revision, all three cooperation results of the two sides have been released to date.

First of all, based on MVS-T series wind power special circuit breaker, launched MVS-T6 offshore wind power special air circuit breaker, R & D and production only took half a year, the product can be broken at 1140V up to 75kA, the use of special materials and processes, with excellent anti-corrosion performance.

In addition, for the 5.5MW offshore floating wind turbine, the product is equipped with Marine special Navy switching coil, integrated control unit and special arc extinguishing shield, which can meet the performance requirements of vibration, shock and collision in more severe mechanical environment and withstand corrosion environment such as salt spray condensation. For 11 MW offshore floating wind turbine, the circuit breaker is equipped with a special arc extinguishing chamber and a backup protection design, which can meet the higher short-circuit breaking capacity under high voltage. The exposed metal parts are equipped with special side panels and bolts for corrosion resistance. On the basis of the Marine special opening coil, a set of special accessories for strengthening the switch side panels and buffering are added. Effective resistance to mechanical shock and corrosive gases in floating applications.

This series of products has passed the special test certification of floating offshore wind power in various harsh environments, which can provide practical guarantee for the continuous healthy work of offshore wind power equipment. This year, MVS-T series products have been deployed in Vietnam Jin Ou offshore wind power project and Guangdong Zhuhai Guishan offshore wind power project.

MVS T6 series air circuit breaker for offshore wind power

Second, WindSeT offshore wind power special low-voltage distribution cabinet, based on Schneider Electric BlokSeT MB Marine special cabinet, can meet the application requirements of 5.5-11MW, 3200-5000A, rated voltage up to 1140V offshore wind power generation boost system, has stronger applicability; Products comply with Marine high salt spray corrosion, mildew, alternating moisture and heat corrosion, random vibration, impact, collision, tilt and sway ability standards, can provide higher safety protection; In addition, the excellent performance of the cabinet accessories can reduce the probability of failure, combined with Schneider Electric professional operation and maintenance guidance, with better reliability and longer life; At the same time, the product specifications are more compact, which can better meet the narrow space requirements.