Abstract
Marine current energy conversion (MCEC) technologies are promising renewable energy systems with some full scale and semi-commercial turbines constructed and deployed in several countries around the world. In this work, we present the status of marine current energy and systems in China and policies geared to support these. Over the past ten years the Chinese government has provided a policy framework and financial supports for the development of MCEC technologies of various design philosophies which has resulted in significant technology deployment at sea. A review of these technologies – which have turbine capacities in the range 20 kW to 650 kW, mostly tested at sea – is presented in the paper. In addition, the paper also discusses Chinese plans for marine energy test sites at sea to support prototype development and testing and concludes with a view of future prospects for the marine energy technology deployment in China.
Highlights
Marine current energy conversion (MCEC) currents have a density which is approximately 800 times technologies are promising renewable energy systems with that of air utilised in wind energy conversion, it is limited some full scale and semi-commercial turbines consTtrhuicrtdedC
The principle of marine current energy conversion is in most cases similar to that of wind energy, where horizontal axis turbines can be used to capture the sea water flow in marine currents and covert that into electrical power using similar but adapted technologies as wind turbine generators
With the maturing of wind turbine technologies and propelled by the environment consideration and a required diversity strategies of energy security, as well as carbon emission reduction, more attention and financial supports was given to the MCEC technologies by Chinese government, with rapid progress being made since 2005. We review this progress and make reference to Chinese policy related to marine energy. This is followed by an overview of the status of marine current energy conversion technologies in China focusing on significant sea tested medium-scaled turbines
Summary
Marine currents in the oceans driven by gravitational effects possess large kinetic energy which can be harnessed for electricity power generation. The most significant commercial deployment is the Meygen project in which phase 1 has resulted in the deployment of 4 MW array in 2018 which is part of an ambitious 398 MW capacity to be constructed during the 5 years [4] Such commercial work is built on and augmented with significant and pioneering fundamental research especially in the UK and elsewhere. Manuscript received 23 February, 2021; revised 21 April, 2021; accepted 13 May, 2021; published 20 May, 2021 We review this progress and make reference to Chinese policy related to marine energy This is followed by an overview of the status of marine current energy conversion technologies in China focusing on significant sea tested medium-scaled turbines.
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