Posted on December 2, 2024
A state-owned energy conglomerate is leading a tech consortium to build an offshore “integrated energy island” in southern China, a green power project regarded by scientists as one of the country’s 10 most challenging engineering projects this year.
China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) announced a plan on November 22 to build the integrated facility that aims to experiment with deep-sea renewable energy off the coast of Guangdong province, according to the state-run China News Services.
China has been focusing on the sea as a means to derive green energy from offshore wind power and floating solar farms, as well as freeing up scarce land resources.
But it is becoming necessary to take the offshore facilities further into the ocean to avoid obstructing key shipping lanes, ports and fisheries.
Chinese researchers have been evaluating the possibility of building deep-sea integrated energy islands as part of its renewable energy strategy.
The massive man-made island would be connected to large deep-sea offshore wind turbines. It would store and use the electricity generated for seawater desalination, hydrogen and hydrogen-based derivative productions, which could be shipped back to the mainland as clean fuel.
In July, the China Association for Science and Technology ranked the construction of the deep-sea energy islands as one of the country’s top 10 engineering challenges. It cited the challenges in areas such as seawater hydrogen production and offshore hydrogen storage and transport in addition to the difficulty of building a mega artificial island that must withstand seawater erosion, typhoons and even tsunamis.
A Guangdong official called the building of deep-sea integrated energy islands a “huge challenge with huge potential”.
The official, who requested anonymity, said the project required establishing a large steel structure floating in the deep sea along with chemical production and storage modules.
“First, we need to have miniaturised and more efficient hydrogen, ammonia and alcohol production facilities as the floating platform is certainly more restricted than land-based projects,” he said.
“Secondly, these highly flammable materials need special storage and transport facilities in the deep sea to ensure safety.
“A third challenge is how to put them together on the artificial island with limited space while making sure it is safe [and] environmentally friendly.”
He said the team must develop custom-made software to allow them to design and simulate the project to suit the dynamic offshore conditions.
Given the size of the undertaking, the CGN group has joined several key research institutions and industry bodies to work on the megaprojects required to find solutions for offshore power generation, microgrid networking and coordinated control, offshore hydrogen ammonia production and storage and transport technology, according to a China News Service report.
European countries bordering the North Sea aim to quadruple their offshore wind energy capacity by the end of the decade, with both Denmark and Belgium planning to have an energy island up and running by 2030.
