The first large-scale new energy system built in China's Qinling Station is about to be delivered for operation and power generation, signifying that China has achieved green scientific research in the polar energy field, according to the Polar Research Institute of China (PRIC).
The Qinling Station is China's fifth research station in Antarctica. It is also the third Chinese research base in Antarctica capable of operating all year, hosting up to 80 personnel in the summertime and 30 during wintertime.
So far, the installation of hardware for wind power generation, photovoltaic power generation, energy storage batteries, hydrogen production, hydrogen storage, hydrogen energy power generation, etc at the Qinling Station has been completed, and the installed hardware has entered the section-by-section debugging stage. In the clean energy system currently designed, photovoltaic and wind power account for 60 percent of the total energy capacity of the entire Qinling station.
"One of the major highlights in Qinling Station project is its large-scale clean energy system, the first of its kind globally to be implemented in the extreme environment of Antarctica. The entire system is expected to be operational in February, marking a milestone in the efforts to achieve breakthroughs in key technologies for developing energy equipment and systems," said Sun Hongbin, chief scientist for polar clean energy of the PRIC.
Sun said that to ensure the system's normal operation in extreme environment in Antarctica, a laboratory was built at a university in Taiyuan City of north China's Shanxi Province, to simulate Antarctic natural conditions.
"Such simulations like strong winds, polar sunlight and the phenomena of polar day and night need to be conducted in our extreme laboratory. The purpose of establishing this laboratory is to solve the difficulties in research, testing, as well as operational maintenance," Sun said.
Once completed, the clean energy system will be capable of generating power for the Qinling Station for about 2.5 hours in the absence of wind and sunlight, ensuring short-term green operation of the station's scientific research equipment and living facilities.
China's Qinling Station in Antarctica realizes green scientific research in polar energy
