We suggest that when conventional power sources cannot meet the demand for peak-valley regulation, wind power should be integrated into the power plant's ancillary service assessment and compensation system because wind power should assume basic ancillary service responsibility for free and meanwhile be able to provide compensable ancillary services. Scientific and reasonable wind turbine basic ancillary service standard should be set based on characteristics of wind power resources, power load characteristics, and actual wind power operation in Jiuquan, Gansu. Special terms for wind power ancillary service assessment and compensation and cost allocation can be added to the existing detailed rules for implementation of administration on ancillary services, and the main assessment content should be “deviation between the output forecasted by wind farms and the actual output.” If the actual wind power output is identical to the forecasted output curve and the wind farm still needs to provide peak-valley regulation capacity by reducing its loads according to the requirements of the power grid, for the peak-valley regulation capacity higher than the basic ancillary service standard, the wind farm needs to be compensated for wind power curtailment.

In terms of encouraging enterprises to accommodate wind power, on the premise of ensuring power quality and power supply security we suggest: (1) wind power enterprises and peak load regulating power source points should surrender part of the profit, which should be comparable to the possible loss resulted from wind power curtailment due to failure to accommodate wind power; (2) power grid enterprises should reduce power transmission cost properly and meanwhile ensure the interest demand of those enterprises with captive power plants; (3) the government should restrict the construction of new captive power plants and at the same time increase the power supply cost of captive power plants.

Different from load in stock projects, the construction and site selection of new supporting loads is more flexible. If resource conditions and environmental capacity permit, we should instruct high energy load consumers to build their plants near wind power bases or supporting power source points to reduce the pressure of power transmission channels, save power transmission cost and loss, and leave more room for negotiation for relevant stakeholders. In order to reduce trading cost and guide the high energy load development, we can also plan pilot projects for direct purchase of power to directly use wind power for new high energy loads and explore means of realizing the three wins of wind power enterprises, industrial enterprises, and power grid enterprises.

We suggest constructing the high energy industrial part in Jiuquan and Jiayuguan, developing the silicon and solar module industry chain and nonferrous metal material and deep processing industry chain on the basis of transferring high energy load industries in East China, and properly developing other large-scale high energy load industries that meet the environmental protection requirements. In addition, we suggest studying, discussing, and implementing the favorable electricity price policy of “direct purchase of electricity” in the industrial parks.

Therefore, we suggest giving overall consideration to the construction progress of power transmission grids and supporting power sources and reasonably arranging wind power construction speed and layout to make the construction speed and scale of Jiuquan Wind Power Base remain consistent with those of supporting power sources and power transmission projects. Particularly wind power planning and extra-high voltage (EHV) and ultra-high voltage (UHV) grid planning should be in harmony with each other. We suggest during the 12th Five-Year Plan period continuing to improve wind power development planning and preproject preparations, comprehensively considering wind power transmission and accommodation capabilities and making scientific and reasonable arrangements for the construction scale, development progress, annual planning, and overall planning of Jiuquan Wind Power Base to ensure the standardized, orderly, and healthy development of Jiuquan Wind Power Base.

Boasting superior conditions for cascade concentrated hydropower development, hydropower bases in the upper reaches of the Yellow River in Qinghai are suitable for peak load regulating power sources for Jiuquan Wind Power Base. We suggest accelerating the development progress of these hydropower bases. Sixteen cascade hydropower stations with a total installed capacity of 14.15 GW are planned to be built in hydropower bases in the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River including the reach from Longyang Gorge to Qingtong Gorge to ensure power output of 4.87 GW and annual power generation of 50.8 GW. Most of the hydropower resources in this river reach have been developed. The river reach of the Yellow River upper than the Longyang Gorge also abounds in hydropower resources and boasts superior hydropower development conditions and prospects. Therefore, we suggest accelerating the development progress of hydropower bases beyond Longyang Gorge in the upper reaches of the Yellow River and improving the Northwest China Grid's capability to compensate and regulate “wind power, photovoltaic power, hydropower, and thermal power” to give better play to the potentials of all power sources in Northwest China.

In addition to constructing pumped-storage power stations, Gansu province can also consider applying to the central government for increasing the gas transmission capacity and gas capacity used for power generation in the gas transmission project from the west to the east, building supporting gas-fired power plants near Jiuquan Wind Power Base and implementing gas tax preferential policies in order to motivate all construction parties to construct and operate gas-fired power plants by reducing the natural gas power generation cost.

According to the overall planning of the Northwest China Grid and in order to meet the peak-valley regulation demand of wind power bases and solve the power shortage problem of Qinghai Power Grid, we preliminarily suggest constructing 10.4 GW of supporting thermal power source. In addition, in order to implement the supporting thermal power base construction plan in the transmitting end area, we suggest that the Chinese central government should in terms of thermal power project construction fully consider the pressure from energy, environment, and transportation on East China, offer preferential thermal power construction policies to Gansu and other provinces and regions in West China where wind power resources are concentrated, and reasonably control the construction scale and speed of coal-fired power plants at the load center in East and Central China to provide market space for Northwest China Grid's power transmission.

We suggest that in the construction of wind farm and wind power integration and collection projects sticking to the principle of making overall arrangements for synchronous construction. The wind farms integrated with the step-up substation should be constructed synchronously, and the construction of wind farms, step-up substations, and supporting power transmission lines should be completed at the same time to improve the utilization rate of equipment and avoid waste of resources.

According to the planning of State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), the transmission market of wind power generated in Jiuquan Wind Power Base is Hunan province in Central China Grid. We suggest starting constructing a Jiuquan large-scale wind power base UHV DC transmission project as soon as possible to support the transmission of wind power bundled with photovoltaic power, hydropower, and thermal power generated in energy bases in West China.

In addition, Hexi Corridor will become the main channel for transmitting power generated in Xinjiang and Hexi Corridor area. There will be a huge demand for the transmission line corridor—a total of eight UHV DC transmission lines and four 750 kV transmission lines. We suggest making plans for the transmission line corridor as soon as possible and reasonably planning Hexi Corridor UHV DC and 750 kV transmission line paths to provide effective support for transmitting energy generated in Northwest China.

Among other regional power grids, Central China Grid has a market space of 39.2 GW mainly covering Henan and Hunan. In addition, the two large provinces in terms of hydropower generation, Hubei and Sichuan, also have seasonal power shortages. Transmitting power generated in Gansu to Central China Grid will produce peak load shifting benefit, solve Central China Grid's power balance problem in the drought period, reduce its installed thermal power capacity and system reserve capacity, and achieve better security benefits and economic benefits. In addition, in the future East China Grid and North China Grid, especially Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan Grid, will have a large peak-valley regulation market, but compared with thermal power bases in Shanxi and Inner Mongolia and 10 GW wind power bases in Inner Mongolia and Hebei, wind power bases in Gansu are not very competitive. Therefore, Central China Grid should be regarded as the accommodation market of power generated in Gansu and Northwest China in the medium and long term.

Wind power transmission is closely related to power source layout and strategic development. We suggest identifying a wind power accommodation market and making power transmission technical plans as soon as possible. We suggest transmitting wind power generated in Gansu directly to Central China through the UHV DC transmission lines and meanwhile identifying the proportion of transmitted wind power, photovoltaic power, hydropower, and thermal power.

According to the operation characteristics of wind power, photovoltaic power, thermal power, and hydropower generated in Gansu and the electricity price, we suggest Gansu Electric Power Company should negotiate with all power generation enterprises to determine the way of transmitting wind power bundled with other power sources and corresponding electricity price in order to take into consideration the interests of both the transmitting end and the receiving end.

Specifically we can adopt the “trade on commission + automatic transfer of power transmission right” mode in which the power transmission contract is regarded as the “power transmission right.” Thermal power and hydropower enterprises should first submit medium- and long-term power transmission commission price and then make day-ahead thermal power and hydropower generation scheduling based on the load forecasting, wind power and photovoltaic power forecasting, tie line plan and repair, and maintenance plan on the planning day. When there is deviation between the forecasted wind power and photovoltaic power output and the actual output, the dispatching department should dispatch thermal power and hydropower and compensate unbalanced power based on demand and realize automatic transfer of “power transmission right.”

Meanwhile in order to promote the wind power integration, we suggest wind farms should be allowed to invest in constructing power transmission lines for integration on the premise of meeting relevant national technical standards.

The main difference between renewable energy tariff surcharge and integration into the electricity transmission cost adjustment plan lies in that in China's existing electricity price system renewable energy tariff surcharge is collected and allocated equally all over China while the power transmission cost adjustment means local power grids (mainly provincial power grids) assume the cost.

For power transmission lines constructed particularly for wind power integration, the cost of separate projects should be calculated based on the actual situation; the benefits brought by newly constructed transmission lines for wind power and other power sources should be clarified; the compensation standard for renewable energy tariff surcharge and power transmission cost should be defined. The compensation standard can be made in the progressive way. In other words, since the focus of newly constructed power grids is wind power services, in earlier stages a larger proportion of renewable energy tariff surcharge should be paid and in later stages the proportion can be reduced gradually.

In addition, if wind power can be transmitted or transmitted in the form of being bundled with other power sources, considering the coal-fired feed-in tariff in eastern power receiving provinces and regions is RMB 0.1 to 0.2/kWh higher than that in western provinces and regions, power-receiving provinces and regions can make compensations in the form of the electricity price at the receiving end (Table 10.1).

Considering the characteristics of wind power and the requirement for improving the utilization rate of UHV DC power transmission lines and reducing total electricity transmission cost, we suggest in the medium and long term transmitting wind power bundled with photovoltaic power, hydropower, and thermal power to the grid load centers in East China, Central China, and North China. Particularly the technical and economic characteristics of various power sources should be taken into overall consideration before defining the power transmission proportion of all power sources. If wind power is transmitted in the form of being bundled with thermal power, then it will improve the power transmission capacity, utilization efficiency, and utilization hours of DC power transmission lines and effectively reduce the electricity transmission price. According to the above calculation the electricity price at the receiving end of wind power transmitted from Jiuquan Wind Power Base to Zhuzhou in Hunan through the UHV DC transmission lines in the form of being bundled with hydropower and thermal power has basic economic competitiveness. We suggest both parties should strengthen consultations, give overall consideration to the electricity price at the receiving end and transmission capacity and proportion, and strive to make reasonable electricity price and compensation plans on the condition of determining proportion of transmitted power source capacity and quantity of electricity to eliminate the technical and economic barrier to accepting electricity by the receiving end.