Levelized cost of offshore wind power in China

With the deepening implementation of the energy revolution and the advent of the era in which renewable energy will be grid parity, China's offshore wind power projects have gradually taking steps to shape a large-scale development. This paper reviews the relevant policies for offshore wind power, adopting the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) model to conduct an economic evaluation of offshore wind power projects in six typical provinces in China. Among the six provinces studied in this paper, Hebei Province has the highest LCOE value of 0.87 yuan/kWh, and Fujian Province has the lowest LCOE value of 0.71 yuan/kWh; the LCOE results of offshore wind power projects in Hebei and Guangdong provinces are higher than the policy guidance price by 8.75% and 6.25% respectively; the LCOE value of the offshore wind power projects in the other four provinces are lower than the guidance price, and the average profit is considerable; the expected annual utilization hours and unit cost have varied impact on the LCOE value in different provinces. The results show that with the upcoming offshore wind power on-grid price bidding era, China's offshore wind power grid parity era is just around the corner. Finally, this paper puts forward relevant policy suggestions, hoping to provide practical guidance for the promotion of offshore wind power technology in China.

Automated summary

This paper evaluates the economic viability of offshore wind power projects in China and examines the LCOE values of projects in six typical provinces. The results indicate that offshore wind power projects in China are profitable and the grid parity era is on the horizon.