The first step of electricity generation in the Power Encyclopedia - types and principles of power generation

05 Power generation from other sources

In addition to the above types of power generation, there are other energy generation: biomass power generation, tidal power generation, solar thermal power generation and so on.

New energy types

When it comes to power generation, it is impossible not to talk about new energy, new energy refers to clean resources that can be recycled. New energy sources include solar, wind, biomass, geothermal energy, nuclear fusion energy, water and ocean energy, as well as energy derived from renewable energy biofuels and hydrogen.

Solar energy

The use of solar energy has two ways of photothermal conversion and photoelectric conversion, such as solar water heaters, solar stoves and so on is the solar heat utilization technology.

Solar energy

Wind energy

Wind power is a commonly used technology, data from the National Energy Administration show that from January to November 2020, the country added 24.62 million kilowatts of wind power connected to the grid, 8.16 million kilowatts more than the same period last year, and the growth rate of wind power installed capacity continues to accelerate.

Wind energy

Biomass energy

Biomass energy, in fact, is some biomass suitable for energy utilization, such as forestry leftovers, agricultural leftovers, urban and rural solid waste (domestic waste, kitchen waste, fruit and vegetable waste) and livestock and poultry manure. The earliest energy used in human history is biomass energy.

At present, the annual production of China's main biomass resources is about 3.49 billion tons, and the development potential of biomass resources as energy utilization is about 460 million tons of standard coal, and the current utilization is only 0.6 million tons of standard coal, and the future utilization potential of biomass energy is huge.

Biomass energy

Hydrogen energy

Chemical knowledge has also been learned, water (2H2O) can be decomposed into hydrogen (2H2) and oxygen (O2), so the raw material for hydrogen production is mainly water, completely pollution-free, is a promising clean fuel.

Hydrogen energy

Tidal energy

Our coastline is 14,000 kilometers long and rich in tidal energy. However, tidal power generation technology is a low head hydropower technology, with small capacity and relatively high cost.

Tidal energy

The advantage of new energy

The biggest advantage of new energy is that it is more environmentally friendly and does not produce a lot of pollutants when burned like fossil fuels. (However, the manufacturing and construction of new energy generation equipment and systems will also generate energy consumption and pollution.)

And fossil resources are finite and non-renewable. The new energy can be said to be not exhausted, with unlimited renewable, small amount of operation and maintenance advantages.

The disadvantages of new energy

Although there are many advantages of new energy, it also has drawbacks that cannot be ignored.

Immature technology: the power generation cost of new energy power generation equipment and system is high, and the current power generation energy conversion efficiency is relatively low, but I believe that with the development of science and technology, these will not be a problem in the future.

Need to adapt to local conditions: because most of the new energy resources need to depend on the geographical situation of the region, such as high-quality wind power, photoelectric resources are generally distributed in the northwest, and electricity demand is concentrated in the southeast coast, new energy power generation is difficult to cover the real demand, and long-distance transmission will increase costs

Natural resources are not controllable: new energy generation can be regarded as a day to eat, because you can not control the intensity and frequency of sunshine, wind, and tides, and can only be passively accepted.

The current power system has no storage link, so it is very likely that it can not be used when generating electricity, and the power generation can not be reached when the electricity is needed, which affects the quality of life.

Therefore, in the long term, the development of energy storage technology is a way to solve the uncontrollability of new energy power generation, and the technical level of new energy itself, which requires sustained long-term investment, not short-term visible results.

The development of new energy

Although new energy has many drawbacks, its medium - and long-term development prospects are still very good, because new energy can not only solve the energy demand caused by population growth, but also reduce the impact of energy production on the environment.

Comparison of the structure of newly added power installations in 2015 and 2020

As can be seen from the table, the new installed capacity of grid-connected wind power and solar power generation accounts for 62.8% of the total installed capacity of new power generation in 2020, which has become the main force of new power generation for four consecutive years.

It is expected that in the future, renewable energy generation capacity will account for more than 50% of China's total electricity installed capacity. The proportion of renewable energy in the increase of electricity consumption in the whole society will reach about two-thirds, and the proportion in the increase of primary energy consumption will exceed 50%, and renewable energy will change from the original incremental supplement of energy and electricity consumption to the incremental main body of energy and electricity consumption.