PLAN SCS Bases/Islands/Vessels (Not a Strategy Page)

Woody Island

Those are beautiful photos, thanks for posting them, joshuatree. Any idea of their date? The last one numbered 23 in the bottom right corner is at least six months old because it still had the middle pier that was recently dredged to merge the two older harbors.

The has an article about China finishing an extension of their runway on Woody Island.

The Xinhua report gave few details about the runway, except to say it was completed on Yongxing Island, the largest of the Xisha islands with a land area of 2.6 sq km. Pictures accompanying the statement showed the runway running across the breadth of the island, with part of the airstrip surrounded by construction cranes and clear blue water.

“With the completion and continued improvements to the runway on Yongxing, military aircraft can be based in the Paracels and greatly improve Chinese defence capabilities in the Xisha and Nansha islands,” Xinhua said, using the Chinese names for the Paracels and Spratlys, a separate island chain.

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Yes! I must agree with Geographer, most excellent pics!

I am a little disappointed with the limited extent of the installation of solar power systems.

In this remote location they really need them.

Rather than having to bring in fuel regularly and maintain fossil-fueled power plants, the island could operate most of its facilities with solar power.

In remote locations like these, solar power systems are very cost-effective versus conventional power systems.

And of course very green too!

They would also go a long way towards popularizing and boosting China's domestic photovoltaic solar power industry (already the largest in the world!)

I am very pleased however with the establishment of large and well-equipped green houses.

Doubtless this will go a long way towards giving Woody Island a large domestic supply of green leafy vegetables.

Maybe China will even install a small (<300 MW) nuclear reactor here!

I agree about the solar panels, duskylim. Being so close to the equator means the they would be quite efficient. Some of the Vietnamese-occupied islands have wind turbines. China's outpost at Mischief Reef as one wind turbine and a few solar panels.

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Geographer said:

Those are beautiful photos, thanks for posting them, joshuatree. Any idea of their date? The last one numbered 23 in the bottom right corner is at least six months old because it still had the middle pier that was recently dredged to merge the two older harbors.

The

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has an article about China finishing an extension of their runway on Woody Island.

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Sorry Geo, I don't know the dates of the photos. I take no credit to them, just figure be nice to share here. The details on some of them are great for us to identify what they have been building. I think the report of the newly finished runway is a bit misleading and alarmist in other medias, maybe a spin for their own agenda. The runway is not new for sure, it's always been there but now has been extended so it can support heavier aircraft. I still suspect the land being reclaimed between the runway and Rocky Island will become an airbase.

duskylim said:

Yes! I must agree with Geographer, most excellent pics!

I am a little disappointed with the limited extent of the installation of solar power systems.

In this remote location they really need them.

Rather than having to bring in fuel regularly and maintain fossil-fueled power plants, the island could operate most of its facilities with solar power.

In remote locations like these, solar power systems are very cost-effective versus conventional power systems.

And of course very green too!

They would also go a long way towards popularizing and boosting China's domestic photovoltaic solar power industry (already the largest in the world!)

I am very pleased however with the establishment of large and well-equipped green houses.

Doubtless this will go a long way towards giving Woody Island a large domestic supply of green leafy vegetables.

Maybe China will even install a small (<300 MW) nuclear reactor here!

Click to expand...

I'm not sure solar is the way to go. During the day, it may be fine as an augment. But I wouldn't want to have battery banks in such an environment to store power for the evenings. I don't know the wind patterns there but I think building those offshore windmills would be a better choice as it is not subjected to day and night patterns. Or maybe wave energy converter or power buoys.

What is the danger to solar panels and wind turbines from high winds? What is the wind speed to be reckoned with in that area?

Modern wind turbines can withstand just about any wind speed below what you see in typhoons. As I noted earlier, China's outpost on Mischief Reef has one wind turbine and a few solar panels. Some of Vietnam's outposts also have wind turbines and solar panels as you can see here at Truong Sa Dong. Also note the solar-powered street lights.

Geographer said:

Modern wind turbines can withstand just about any wind speed below what you see in typhoons. As I noted earlier, China's outpost on Mischief Reef has one wind turbine and a few solar panels. Some of Vietnam's outposts also have wind turbines and solar panels as you can see here at Truong Sa Dong. Also note the solar-powered street lights.

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How about greater economy of scale such as below?

Geographer said:

Modern wind turbines can withstand just about any wind speed below what you see in typhoons. As I noted earlier, China's outpost on Mischief Reef has one wind turbine and a few solar panels. Some of Vietnam's outposts also have wind turbines and solar panels as you can see here at Truong Sa Dong. Also note the solar-powered street lights.

Click to expand...

But they do have typhoons. So how do you protect your solar panels and wind turbines?