Quantitative insights into the differences of variability and intermittency between wind and solar resources on spatial and temporal scales in China

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Variability and intermittency are the intrinsic nature of wind and solar resources. Expanded wind and solar power development in China requires a deeper understanding of their differences in variability and intermittency, both spatially and temporally. To address this issue, this study provides a systematic quantitative comparison of the variability and intermittency between wind and solar resources across China. Compared with wind resources, solar resources show regular spatial patterns and highly similar temporal characteristics. Solar resources usually have larger daily variation amplitudes (1.0–3.5 times) and are more intermittent (1.0–10.0 times) than wind resources in most regions. Solar resources fluctuate 1.0–8.0 times faster than wind resources in western Xinjiang, most of central and southern China, and north and east of northeast China. However, the variation rate of solar resources is approximately 0.1–0.5 times the wind resources in the Qinghai–Tibet plateau and East China Sea. In general, wind and solar resources fluctuate faster and are more intermittent in spring and autumn. Onshore wind resources are more variable and intermittent in the periods of 6:00–12:00 and 16:00–22:00. However, the variability and intermittency of offshore wind resources are weak and have very small intra-day changes compared with onshore wind resources. Solar resources are usually more variable and intermittent during the periods of 2–4 h after sunrise and 2–4 h before sunset. Furthermore, the intra-day changes in the variability and intermittency of solar resources are significantly greater than the inter-month changes. Those quantitative insights contribute to better and more efficiently mitigate the variability and intermittency of wind and solar resources.