On both sides of the road leading to Baiyun and Damao in the urban area of Baotou, hundreds of wind turbines dance with the wind on the vast plain, presenting a spectacular scene. The continuous output of the electricity generated from this provides a practical example for the utilization of new energy in Baotou.

Wind energy, as a clean energy source with no fuel price risk and no carbon emissions, is becoming the fastest growing power generation method in the world. This "low-carbon" economy is known by experts as the guarantee of green ecology. In the past five years, more than ten domestic and foreign enterprises have been vigorously constructing wind farms in Baotou, which has become the birthplace of China's green economy.

The concept of "Wind Power City" driven by strong winds

"Throughout the year, the gray wind blows with a whine." For people in Baotou, strong winds are almost commonplace, and on days with wind speeds of over 5 meters per second, Baotou has more than 300 days a year. And now, this once unavoidable wind disaster has become a treasure. Baotou has a vast territory, flat terrain, and abundant wind energy. Preliminary estimates indicate that the wind energy resources in Baotou and surrounding areas have a reserve of 42.537 million kilowatts, with a technically exploitable reserve of 27.67 million kilowatts, which provides the resources for large-scale development of wind power.

On the other hand, energy consumption has always been a concern for resource-based cities like Baotou. According to data, Baotou emits over 2 million tons of fly ash and slag annually, and Baotou is considering finding alternative energy sources such as wind energy.

In 2005, Baotou loudly proposed the idea of building a national level "wind power city", with the goal of achieving wind power equipment and wind power production capacity of 2 million kilowatts. To achieve this goal, in recent years, Baotou has implemented a linkage strategy of using wind power to drive the development of wind turbine manufacturing industry, focusing on relying on the strong talents, technology, and process equipment advantages of Yiji Group and Northern Heavy Industry Group, and striving to build two wind power equipment manufacturing bases. At present, the wind turbine spindles produced by Northern Heavy Industry Group have become high-end products in the wind turbine spindle market, forming an annual production capacity of 400 wind turbine spindles and 100 wind turbine bases. The One Machine Group, which produces towers, is advancing in both component manufacturing and production. In 2011, it will form an annual production capacity of 300 1.5M wind turbines and 300 wind turbine gearboxes. With the rapid rise of two bases, the construction of two wind power equipment manufacturing industrial parks, Qingshan District and Rare Earth High tech Zone, has also accelerated.

Wind power manufacturers are intensifying their layout

The advantages of developing the wind power industry in Baotou and the plan for synchronous development of wind power construction and wind power equipment manufacturing have also attracted foreign wind power capital, and state-owned, private, and foreign-funded enterprises have begun to enter Baotou on a large scale. China Water Resources Investment Group and leading domestic wind power industry enterprise Goldwind Technology Company have successively settled in our city to develop wind farms. At present, our city has planned to build 10 wind farms, including Bayin Wind Farm, Baiyun Ebo Wind Farm, Bailingmiao Wind Farm, and Zhaohe Wind Farm, with a planned area of 3446 square kilometers and a total installed capacity of 12.1 million kilowatts.

In early 2010, the reporter walked into Inner Mongolia Goldwind Technology Co., Ltd. located in the Rare Earth High tech Zone and saw a busy scene in the production workshop. "At present, we mainly use direct drive power generation in wind power design," said Wang Weiping, the director of the company's assembly plant. Direct drive power generation does not require a gearbox and can provide relatively stable wind energy.

Adjacent to Goldwind Technology is another large wind power enterprise, Guoshui Investment Group Baotou Wind Power Technology Co., Ltd. As a spare parts manufacturer, the company mainly provides supporting parts and equipment for whole machine manufacturers such as Goldwind Technology, Huarui Wind Power, and Dongfang Steam Turbine Factory. The company leader said, "Currently, Goldwind Technology and Huarui Wind Power have set up wind power plants in Baotou, so we are also setting up factories here." He believes that setting up factories nearby can not only save transportation costs, but also facilitate communication with whole machine manufacturers.

Huarui Wind Power, a large domestic wind power enterprise, is also not showing weakness. Shao Hua, the Inner Mongolia project manager of Sinovel Wind Power Technology Co., Ltd., said that Sinovel Wind Power's layout in Baotou was mainly due to its focus on wind resources in Baotou.

The wind power industry is facing a breakthrough

After several years of development, the new green wind power industry is showing great potential in Baotou. It is understood that as of the end of 2009, the installed capacity of wind power projects under construction and completed in the city exceeded 2 million kilowatts, and the grid connected power generation reached 510000 kilowatts. In the field of wind power equipment manufacturing, our city now has the ability to manufacture wind turbines with an annual output of 2 million kilowatts. A complete industrial chain and cluster consisting of research and development, manufacturing, assembly, and wind farm investment are being formed.

On the beautiful Damao grassland, the 500000 kilowatt wind power project jointly constructed by Xinjiang Goldwind Technology Co., Ltd. and China Water Resources Investment Corporation at the Bayin Wind Farm is currently the largest domestically built demonstration wind farm proposed in China. Within the Bayin Wind Farm, seven companies, including Huaneng New Energy, Huadian Inner Mongolia Company, Guodian Longyuan, China Power Investment Corporation, Jingneng, Mengneng, and China Wind Power, are currently carrying out project implementation work. The completion of the final 1.4 million kilowatt wind power project at the Bayin Wind Farm will make it the largest wind farm with installed capacity in the western region of the autonomous region. A person in charge of Longyuan Baotou Bayin Wind Farm told reporters that all 134 wind turbines of the company have been connected to the grid for power generation, with a power generation capacity of 200000 kilowatts.

The strong wind has opened the curtain on the development of new energy in Baotou, but the idea of building a wind power city in Baotou still has a long journey ahead. The reporter learned that due to the fact that Baotou belongs to the Mengxi Power Grid, which is an independent power grid with limited load, our city's wind power access is limited, and some wind farms have difficulty solving the problem of grid access. Some wind farms have experienced idle generators "sunbathing", and the restricted problem was particularly prominent in 2010. The investigation by reporters found that although wind power generation is a green energy source, its initial investment is relatively large. The cost of a typhoon motor is around 10 million yuan, and it takes 14 years to recover the cost for normal operation. However, idle wind turbines not only cause losses to investors, but also affect the process of building a wind power city in Baotou.

The person in charge of Longyuan Baotou Bayin Wind Farm told reporters that Inner Mongolia's wind energy resources account for nearly half of the country's exploitable capacity, and these wind power needs to be digested by the whole country. He hopes that the country will soon introduce a package plan to increase quotas, solve the problem of limited wind power access, and send wind power from Baotou to the whole country, playing the role of green energy, leaving more resources for the future and bringing more benefits to future generations. (Source: Baotou Daily)

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