China's rural areas are rich and widely distributed in wind energy resources. Promoting the local and nearby development and utilization of wind power according to local conditions will promote the rural energy revolution and help rural revitalization. The implementation of wind power "going to the countryside" is not only an energy production activity, but also closely related to rural production and life. It requires the linkage and division of labor among energy authorities at all levels, agricultural and rural authorities, and various business entities such as power grid companies and wind power investment companies.

Wind power in the village, collective income increase, villagers benefit. In order to promote the development of distributed new energy in rural areas, the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Energy Administration, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs recently jointly issued the "Notice on Organizing and Carrying out the "Thousands of Villages and Ten Thousand Villages Riding the Wind" Action", and promote the development and utilization of wind power in rural areas according to local conditions, so as to assist in rural revitalization and promote the green and low-carbon transformation of rural energy. This means that the wind power that has been mentioned for many years has officially "gone to the countryside".

China's rural areas are rich in wind energy resources with a wide distribution. Making full use of scattered land in rural areas and promoting the development and utilization of wind power locally and nearby is of great significance for expanding the collective economy of the village, assisting rural revitalization, promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of rural energy, and achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality.

Open up new space for wind power development. Unlike photovoltaic power which develops in both centralized and distributed manners, current wind power in China is primarily large-scale development, distributed wind power development is slow, and the homogenized development model constrains the market space of wind power. If 1000 qualified villages are selected each year for pilot development, and 20,000 kilowatts of installed capacity are calculated per village, 20 million kilowatts of new wind power installed capacity can be added each year, with new investment of around 100 billion yuan, which can not only open up new market space for wind power development, but can also play a better role in promoting development, expanding investment and stabilizing growth.

Promoting rural energy revolution. Due to the rigid demand for winter heating, accelerated agricultural modernization, and improved agricultural mechanization, the energy consumption and carbon emission in China's agricultural production sector tend to rise rapidly. Implementing the "Harness the Wind for a Thousand Towns and Ten Thousands of Villages Campaign" to promote wind power development in rural areas, and realizing multi-energy complementation and deep integration with distributed rural photovoltaics, biomass power generation, and geothermal energy, is conducive to adjusting the rural energy structure, promoting the rural energy revolution, and helping to achieve the carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals.

Promoting rural revitalization. Supporting various investment entities and village collectives to jointly develop and construct wind power projects in accordance with the "village-enterprise cooperation" model; encouraging village collectives to explore the formation of a new "co-construction and sharing" rural energy cooperation model by contributing land use rights or setting up public welfare posts in accordance with the law, which can broaden the channels for increasing income and achieving prosperity for village collectives and farmers, and ensure that wind power development truly benefits "agriculture, rural areas, and farmers". It is estimated that a single wind turbine with a capacity of 4 megawatts can generate millions of yuan in profit per year, and according to the shareholding ratio, it can increase the income of the village collective by 50,000 yuan to 100,000 yuan. If a village constructs 5 wind turbines with a capacity of 4 megawatts, the village collective can earn up to 500,000 yuan.

It is feasible to implement a wind power "rural strategy." In general, an average wind speed of at least 6 meters per second is required for wind power development. Therefore, in the past, China's wind power construction was mainly concentrated in the high wind speed "Three North" regions (Northwest, North, and Northeast China) and the mountainous areas in the southeast. In recent years, with the improvement of wind turbine control strategies and intelligence levels, the increase in tower height, rotor diameter, and the area swept by a single kilowatt, as well as the reduction in manufacturing costs and increased efficiency, the on-site development of low-wind speed areas in the plains has become increasingly feasible and economical, which has created the preconditions for wind power "rural strategy."

Land expropriation is also not a problem. Among various power generation forms, wind power is one of the most land-efficient power generation technologies. Wind power projects built in the flatlands only take up 100 square meters of space per unit after the land is replanted, and the construction period can also help rural villages pave roads and improve road network construction. According to expert calculations, developing 100 million kilowatts of wind power installed capacity requires installing 20,000 5-megawatt units, covering an area of 2 million square meters, which is only equivalent to 2 million-kilowatt thermal power plants. If a truss tower base similar to the Eiffel Tower in Paris is used, each of the four corners supporting the tower will occupy about 1.5 square meters, with a total footprint of only 6 square meters. As long as the large amount of sporadic unused land in front of and behind villages and at the head of fields is utilized, wind power can be realized in rural areas.

The competent authorities also provided policy facilitation. The "Action for Thousand Villages and Ten Thousand Villages to Tame the Wind" proposed that the grid enterprises implement the guaranteed grid connection for relevant projects, mainly based on local consumption, and the grid connection price shall be implemented in accordance with the grid connection price policy for new energy in the year of grid connection. Encourage participation in market transactions. Electricity traded in the market will not be included in the sharing of auxiliary service fees. Encourage local areas to explore and pilot the implementation of a record-filing system for relevant projects, and accelerate the handling of relevant procedures in accordance with the law. With policy support, it is expected to ensure a stable and reasonable level of income for wind power "going to the countryside" projects.

The “Thousand Villages and Ten Thousand Towns Control-the-wind Operation” is different from conventional wind power project development. This operation is not just an energy production activity but is also closely related to rural production and life and requires the energy authority at all levels, the agricultural and rural affairs authority, power grid companies, wind power investment companies, and all types of business entities to coordinate and divide the work. In the process of advancement, it is necessary to utilize the local rural wind energy and fragmented idle land resources and absolutely not occupy permanent basic farmland. It aims to “not compete with grain for land,” “not violate the villagers’ interests,” and “not touch the environmental red line.” The pilot program can be carried out first in the administrative villages with the conditions. When the conditions are ripe, one more can be implemented, resolutely avoiding hasty actions. (Wang Yichen)

(Transferred from Economic Daily)