Part 3. Is clean energy really clean?

 

The development and utilization of clean energy have laid the foundation for safe and sustainable energy use and supply all over the world (Sun, 2017). China has made great efforts and great attempts in clean energy power generation, but whether clean energy can really achieve the expected effect, that is, taking into account efficiency and environmental protection, is also worth dialectical examination. Wind power generation and Solar photovoltaic are both the fastest-growing sources of power generation in China in recent years (Sherman, 2017). As shown in Figure 7, the level of wind power generation in China has increased rapidly since 2005 (Yang, 2011). Taking wind power generation and Solar photovoltaic as an example, this Blog discusses whether the advantages of power generation under this new energy form really outweigh the disadvantages.

Figure 7: The new and total installed capacities of wind power in China (MW)

1. Power generation cost

The clean energy power generation plan is based on the investment of a large amount of capital (Zhao, 2018). The total investment of wind farms includes equipment cost, land cost, grid connection cost, design, and construction cost, and other miscellaneous expenses. As shown in Figure 8, the amount of wind power investment in China over these years is particularly huge (Yuan et al., 2016). It is estimated that China's total investment in wind power generation will reach the US $500 billion by 2030 (Sherman, 2017). However, the report results of North China Electric Power University (2017) show that the expected income of wind power in China does not reach the ideal level but is in a state of loss year by year.

Figure 8: The total investment of a 100 MW wind farm in China commissioned at various years

2. Adverse impact on the environment:

More and more environmentalists emphasize the adverse impact of renewable energy power generation on the environment, such as noise, impact on wildlife, electromagnetic interference, etc. (Zhao, 2019).

Similarly, solar photovoltaic power generation, as the object of vigorous development, also has similar problems. First, the environmental pollution caused by waste gas and wastewater generated during the use of solar photovoltaic equipment is also worthy of attention. Secondly, noise pollution, light pollution, heat pollution, and damage to the local ecological environment in the process of solar power generation are worth thinking about. In addition, the recycling of solar power cells that have reached their service life is still a great test in the near future, because a large number of electronic components contain toxic substances, which can easily cause secondary pollution if not handled properly (Qi, 2017). The transfer of these pollutants will incur another form of cost.

3. Waste of clean energy

Because the unstable natural resources such as wind resources are unevenly distributed and are greatly affected by the terrain, in order to ensure normal, stable, and sustainable power transportation, it has led to regional and seasonal wind power limitations. The emergence of this situation is a huge waste of investment in clean energy. In 2016 alone, the proportion of giving up wind power in Northwest China reached 33.34%（Zhang, 2018).

Table 1: The costs and risks for various generation technologies.

In summary, the return on investment for clean energy development and utilisation in China is uncertain, and the efficiency of access to electricity remains low, even with some negative environmental impacts. This may not only be a problem for China in its transition to the Sustainable Development Goals, but also for the world. In the future perhaps new technologies will be able to solve these problems.

Like to know more? Watch the video below:  

-Zhuowen Jia

11, October, 2021

Reference

Zhao, Z. and Chen, Y. (2018) "Critical factors affecting the development of renewable energy power generation: Evidence from China", Journal of Cleaner Production, 184, pp. 466-480. 

Sherman, P., Chen, X. and McElroy, M. B. (2017) ‘Wind-generated Electricity in China: Decreasing Potential, Inter-annual Variability and Association with Changing Climate’, Scientific reports, 7(1), p. 16294. 

Yuan, J. et al. (2016) ‘Feed-In Tariff for Onshore Wind Power in China’, Emerging Markets Finance & Trade, 52(6), pp. 1427–1437. 

Zhang, S., Zhao, T. and Xie, B. (2018) "What is the optimal power generation mix of China? An empirical analysis using portfolio theory", Applied Energy, 229, pp. 522-536. 

Zhao, Z., Chen, Y. and Li, H. (2019) "What affects the development of renewable energy power generation projects in China: ISM analysis", Renewable Energy, 131, pp. 506-517. 

Sun, B., Yu, Y. and Qin, C. (2017) "Should China focus on the distributed development of wind and solar photovoltaic power generation? A comparative study", Applied Energy, 185, pp. 421-439. 

Xiuyun, Y., Wenjun, Z. and Yining, Z. (2011) ‘Regional investment distribution of the wind power in China and its impacts on wind-generated electricity’, Energy Procedia, 5, pp. 2321–2329. 

Qi, L. and Zhang, Y. (2017) ‘Effects of solar photovoltaic technology on the environment in China’, Environmental science and pollution research international, 24(28), pp. 22133–22142.