Life cycle assessment of onshore wind power systems in China

Abstract

The rapid recent economic growth in China was accompanied by a comparable demand for electricity, which is mainly provided by fossil-based power plants. Due to the impacts on climate change a switch to a more climate-friendly power system is required and part of the official policy of the Chinese Government. Wind power systems have been identified as one of the most promising technology to fulfill that goal. However, focusing only on the global warming potential of a technology could cover up other, possibly negative, environmental impacts.The aim of the article is to learn more about the entire environmental performance of utility-scale wind power systems in China, based on a life cycle assessment for Saihan plant, a typical MW-level wind power plant in Inner Mongolia, China. The assessment results were compared to those of equivalent coal and natural gas power plants in China. Moreover, the global warming potential and ten other environmental impact indicators, differentiated by the five processes specified within the “cradle to grave” boundaries, i.e. production, transportation, installation, operation, and disposal, were calculated and analyzed by using CML 2001 method. The results show that, for producing 1 kWh of electricity, the studied wind power plant yields an 8.65E–03 kg CO2-e global warming potential and a 9.34E–02 MJ abiotic depletion fossil, which represent 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively, of those yielded by coal power plants, and 1.2% and 0.8%, respectively, of those yielded by gas power plants in China. Further, the results show a significant reduction in the values of most of the other studied impact indicators, e.g. acidification, eutrophication, human toxicity and eco-toxicity, compared to those of coal and natural gas power plants. However, these encouraging results were accompanied by higher abiotic depletion (elements) and ozone layer depletion, which should be taken into consideration. Finally, some recommendations for technical developments and policy that would further enhance the wind power systems in China were proposed based on sensitivity and uncertainty analysis.