China has advanced in marine energy technologies, particularly in tidal energy, according to experts.
China has built an intelligent tidal power plant and the world's first tidal current power plant consisting of homegrown megawatt-scale generators, both in the eastern province of Zhejiang.
The Jiangxia Tidal Power Station in Wenling City is currently installing the last batch of new-generation control hardware on its six generators, five sluices and other public devices to build a self-decision-making system.
Upon the completion of hardware installation, the power station will start building software platforms and debugging.
"We have upgraded the equipment with new-generation hardware, which can collect various data on our tidal generator units and more importantly, is embedded with underlying execution programs of the self-decision-making system, enabling it to accept instructions from the system and then execute them automatically," said Xiang Zhili, a maintenance technician of the power plant.
With the help of the self-decision-making system, the start-up, shutdown and operating parameters of the tidal power plant will all be controlled by computers to minimize human errors, marking China's new achievement in developing smart tidal power technologies.
In the waters of Zhoushan, the LHD (initials of the three developers) Tidal Current Power Station has been incorporated into the power grid for eight years. Its self-developed generator unit "Endeavor" is the first of its kind to achieve stable megawatt-scale power generation.
Integrating a platform and modules, the tidal turbine can overcome various challenges in offshore installation, operation and maintenance, garbage prevention, and power transmission, effectively improving tidal current utilization and stability.
"Its advantage lies in that it is easy to manage. Unlike its foreign counterparts, it doesn't need humans to dive underwater to operate. The platform-base and modular approach make it convenient to manage and duplicate," said Lin Dong, director of the project's research center.
At present, Zhejiang is working on the construction of 100-megawatt-scale generators, hoping to scale up the utilization of sea tidal current energy and promote the development of relevant industries and businesses.
China advances in marine energy technologies
