Departing from Yinchuan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, driving along the Wuhai-Maqin Highway for nearly a hundred kilometers to Machangtan of Qingtongxia City in the southern foothills of Helan Mountains, one would see wind turbines of various sizes gently turning in the Valley.
This is where the "replace small with large" technological transformation pilot project is located, belonging to the fourth wind farm of Longyuan Power Ningxia Branch under China Energy.
The abundant wind energy resources here are the natural cradle of green energy, especially in summer when the southeast airflow from the subtropical high-pressure edge easily triggers strong convective weather on the windward slope of the eastern side of Heilongshan. The strong airflow descends along the gap in the Heilongshan mountain range, becoming a surging gale.
It is understood that the project is divided into two phases. The first phase involves capacity-equivalent technological transformation, replacing 80 old small wind turbines with 16 UP195-5.0MW wind turbine units. The second phase involves capacity expansion and technological transformation, installing 16 UP6250-205 wind turbine units. The total installed capacity of the two phases is 200MW.
As a pilot project, the successful exploration of Longyuan Power Ningxia Branch has paved a new path for the "replace small with large" technological transformation projects in China’s wind power industry. This new approach not only transforms small wind turbines into large ones but also includes exploration of management, operation and maintenance modes, digital construction, and supporting energy storage.
The core of the project focuses on improving quality and efficiency through technological transformation. After the transformation, the average single-machine capacity has increased by 5.8 times compared to before, and the total capacity has increased by 3.5 times. For the "capacity-equivalent" project, the number of operation and maintenance personnel at the station has been reduced from 20 to 4, with a 24% increase in electricity generation and a 25% increase in utilization hours compared to the previous year.
New wind turbine units with larger capacity, longer blades, and taller towers replace the old units, fully utilizing wind resources and greatly improving the ability of wind farms to supply green electricity under limited resource conditions.
Currently, the first phase of the 200MW "replace small with large" wind power technological transformation and capacity expansion project was fully completed and connected to the grid by the end of 2023, and the second phase of capacity expansion and technological transformation is nearing completion. Wang Tao stated that the project will be fully connected to the grid in March, with an annual power generation of approximately 700 million kWh, which can meet the annual electricity consumption of 600,000 households, significantly increasing installed capacity and power generation.
