The wind on the Gobi Desert is never gentle. About 200 kilometers southeast of Ruoqiang County in Bazhou, Xinjiang, between the two uninhabited areas of Lop Nur and Altai Mountains, a wind power construction team is carrying anemometers, drawings, and tents into a barren land with an average altitude of over 4000 meters, braving gusts of up to eight or nine levels and a sky full of yellow sand. In summer, the surface temperature here can soften the soles of shoes, and in winter, the oxygen is so thin that it makes people gasp for breath after taking a few steps. Ultraviolet radiation peels off people's faces - but in such places, Dongfang Electric's Ruoqiang 1 million kilowatt wind power project has recently fully started the civil engineering, electrical, and lifting processes, and is sprinting towards full capacity grid connection by 2027.

Site selection survey

The project site covers an area of approximately 280 square kilometers, with an altitude ranging from 3500 meters to 4300 meters, and the highest aircraft position exceeding 4200 meters. In order to ensure that each wind turbine stands in the location with the richest wind resources, the team hiked through more than 300 preliminary aircraft positions in the early stage. During the day, climb over mountain ridges and pass through sandy areas, recording wind speed, turbulence, and geology; At night, spread out the map in the temporary board house and organize engineering, meteorological, and structural experts to review the site selection plan round by round. Some people have altitude sickness and cannot sleep, so they take cold water pills and continue to compare the distance between aircraft positions and the impact of wake. The final layout aims to maximize the consumption of high-quality wind from the valley pass after acceleration due to limited aircraft positions.

Customized fan

High altitude is not as simple as bringing plain fans up. Low air pressure causes insulation and heat dissipation to become unstable, strong sandstorms erode the leading edge of blades, large temperature differences between day and night affect metal fatigue, and complex mountain turbulence is more likely to induce vibration. Dongfang Electric's wind power division has brought the pneumatic, structural, and electrical teams of Deyang headquarters into the same group, and targeted optimization of 6. X megawatt units and blade configurations for the Shage Desert environment, with a single unit capacity of no less than 6.0 megawatts and no more than 149 units in the entire site. The tower, anchor bolts, and transformer box are packaged together for adaptation. The blade coating is UV resistant, the bearing is sealed to prevent fine sand, and the control system reserves low-pressure compensation logic. The unit is connected to the newly built 220 kV substation through a 35 kV collection line, and then borrowed another 220 kV line to be sent to the under construction Qiman 750 kV substation, integrating into the Xinjiang power grid.

Tackling difficulties to ensure supply

One million kilowatts will be divided into three EPC sections for promotion: Chengdu Institute will tackle 160.8 megawatts of mountainous hard bones, East China Institute will receive 314.9 megawatts, and China Communications First Navigation Engineering Group Fifth Company will pick up 522.6 megawatts of main beams. Within this year, the foundation pouring of wind turbines, the laying of power collection lines, and the main body of the substation will be completed. Next year, large-scale hoisting and grid connection debugging will be carried out. Party member demonstration posts and responsibility areas have been set up on the construction site, and there is no shortage of progress due to lack of oxygen. If the wind stops for one night, concrete will be rushed overnight. According to calculations, the project will generate over 2 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually after full capacity operation, equivalent to saving hundreds of thousands of tons of standard coal for Xinjiang Province and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 1.8 million tons annually.keywords:New energy information network

From site selection and survey to customized wind turbines, from ensuring supply in the Gobi to connecting green power to the internet, this group of people has nailed the spirit of Dongfeng into the machine position at an altitude of 4000 meters. When the blades turn, the wind in southern Xinjiang will no longer just howl through uninhabited areas, but will become a real current that illuminates factory workshops and drives through urban tracks, and also write a replicable page for high-altitude wind power in China.Editor/Yang Meiling