Spatiotemporal Distribution and Complementarity of Wind and Solar Energy in China

Aifeng Lv (), Taohui Li, Wenxiang Zhang and Yonghao Liu
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Aifeng Lv: Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
Taohui Li: Key Laboratory of Plateau Geographic Processes and Environment Change of Yunnan Province, Faculty of Geography, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming 650500, China
Wenxiang Zhang: Key Laboratory of Plateau Geographic Processes and Environment Change of Yunnan Province, Faculty of Geography, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming 650500, China
Yonghao Liu: Key Laboratory of Plateau Geographic Processes and Environment Change of Yunnan Province, Faculty of Geography, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming 650500, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 19, 1-16

Abstract: China is rich in wind- and solar-energy resources. In recent years, under the auspices of the “double carbon target,” the government has significantly increased funding for the development of wind and solar resources. However, because wind and solar energy are intermittent and their spatial distribution is uneven, the profits obtained by the developers of wind- and solar-energy resources are unstable and relatively low. For this reason, we analyze in this article the spatiotemporal variations in wind and solar energy resources in China and the temporal complementarity of wind and solar energy by applying a Spearman correlation coefficient based on the Daily Value Dataset of China Surface Climate Data V3.0. Finally, we also strive to harmonize regions where wind and solar resources are less complementary by introducing hydro-energy resources. The results reveal that wind energy and solar energy resources in China undergo large interannual fluctuations and show significant spatial heterogeneity. At the same time, according to the complementarity of wind and solar resources, over half of China’s regions are suitable for the complementary development of resources. Further research shows that the introduction of hydro-energy resources makes it feasible to coordinate and complement the development of wind- and solar-energy resources in areas where the complementarity advantage is not significant. This has a significant effect on increasing the profit generated by the complementary development of two or more renewable resources.

Keywords: China; wind energy resources; solar energy resources; water energy resources; spatial and temporal distribution; time complementarity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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