Search Results (6)

The Guangdong Province is rich in waterways, including those of the Pearl River. The entire watershed of the Pearl River system spans the territory of six provinces. Considering the overarching objective of building a ‘beautiful Bay Area’ under the guidance of Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as well as the ecological problems that span over river basins and regions in Guandong Province, public interest litigation is a useful tool in protecting the environment. Analyzing 95 first-instance (trial) judgements handed down in Guangdong Province between 2018 and 2021, we sought to evaluate public interest litigation as a means of safeguarding aquatic ecology in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), China. Cases were categorized for: firstly, their approach to determining the extent of ecological damage; secondly, the procedure used for receiving and auditing restorative compensation; thirdly, the collaboration between the court and government departments in the management and use of restorative compensation; and fourthly, the collaborative ‘public–private’ supervision utilized to monitor the implementation of restorative compensation and actual restoration. Our insights are intended to provide guidance for cooperative opportunities in the large transregional water systems and offshore areas of mainland China. Full article

Marine sand, in addition to oil and gas resources, is the second-largest marine mineral resource. The rational development and utilization of marine sand resources are conducive to the growth of the marine economy. In the process of marketing marine sand in China, local authorities are required to delineate auctioned sand mining areas after a general survey, commonly referred to as preliminary exploration. Marine sand can be categorized into surface marine sand and buried marine sand. Buried marine sand deposits are buried beneath the sea floor, making it challenging to locate them due to their thin thickness. Consequently, there exist numerous technical difficulties associated with marine sand exploration. We conducted the preliminary research work in the waters off Guangdong Province of the South China Sea, employing a reduced drilling and identifying a potentially extensive deposit of marine sand ore. In this study, various geophysical methods such as sub-bottom profile survey, single-channel seismic survey, and drilling engineering were employed in the northern offshore waters of the South China Sea. As a result, two distinct marine sand bodies were delineated within the study area. Additionally, five reflective interfaces (R₁, R₂, R₃, R₄, and R₅) were identified from top to bottom. These interfaces can be divided into five seismic sequences: A₁, B₁, C₁, D₁, and E₁, respectively. Three sets of strata were recognized: the Holocene Marine facies sediment layer (Q₄^m), the Pleistocene alluvial and pluvial facies sediment layer (Q₃^al+pl), as well as the Pleistocene Marine facies sedimentary layer (Q₃^m). In total, two placers containing marine sand have been discovered during this study. We estimated the volume of marine sand and achieved highly favorable results of the concept that we are proposing a geologic exploration approach that does not involve any previous outcropping analogue study. Full article

Based on field hydro-meteorological observations and sediment sampling data, this study analyzes sediment transport under normal conditions in the Fanshi offshore wind farm project area in Yangjiang, China. It was found that sediment transport in the engineering sea area is relatively stable, and seabed sediments are not easily mobilized. By building a tidal current–sediment mathematical model, the impact of wind farm construction on the erosion and deposition environment in the surrounding sea areas was studied. It was found that areas with significant accumulation are mainly located near the pile foundations of wind turbines. Furthermore, considering ocean dynamics, geological conditions, and wave–current interactions, different local erosion empirical formulas were used to calculate local erosion depth and range. The results show that Han Haiqian’s formula and the HEC-18 formula, which consider wave velocity, are very close and more suitable for the actual conditions of this project. As turbine pile diameters increase, local scour depths and ranges also increase. This study preliminarily analyzes the basic scour characteristics of deep-sea wind turbines off the western coast of Guangdong Province, offering important design parameters for the construction of this project, and also providing a systematic and scientific method for studying local scour at turbine pile foundations. This has great reference value for deep-sea wind farm construction projects. Full article

This study aims to assess the potential greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of delivering 1 kWh from planned offshore wind farm sites to the grid in the Guangdong Province, China. In contrast to most previous studies, we avoided underestimating GHG emissions per kWh by approximately 49% by adopting a spatialized life-cycle inventory (LCI)-improved stock-driven model under the medium scenario combination. We also developed a callable spatialized LCI to model the spatial differences in the GHG emissions per kWh by cells in planned offshore wind farm sites in Guangdong. The modeling results indicate that, under the medium scenario combination, the GHG emissions per kWh will range from 4.6 to 19 gCO_2eq/kWh and the cells with higher emissions are concentrated in the deep-water wind farms in the eastern ocean of the Guangdong Province. According to the mechanism by which the different scenarios affect the modeling results, increasing the unit capacity of turbines is the most effective approach for reducing the GHG emissions per kWh and decreasing the impact of natural conditions. Air density can be used as an empirical spatial variable to predict the GHG emission potential of planned wind farm sites in Guangdong. The modeling framework in this study provides a more reliable quantitative tool for decision-makers in the offshore wind sector that can be used directly for any offshore wind system with a monopile foundation and be extended to wind power systems with other foundation types, or even to the entire renewable energy and other infrastructure systems after certain modifications. Full article

Offshore wind power, as an efficient renewable energy source, is being vigorously developed nowadays. However, the liquefaction of marine sand due to earthquakes brings potential safety hazards to the wind turbine structures. In this study, a series of resonant column and undrained cyclic triaxial tests were carried out to investigate the stiffness degradation and liquefaction characteristics of marine sand in the offshore wind farm at the East Nan-ao area in Guangdong Province (China). Results show that the confining pressure increases the shear modulus of sand and restrains the nonlinearity of modulus. The liquefaction resistance of soils significantly increases with the increase of relative density. The effect of particle size on the liquefaction resistance is related to the cyclic shear stress ratio. The additional pressure induced by the presence of the wind turbine structure enlarges the energy required for shallow soil liquefaction. Besides, a model for predicting shear modulus and another modified model based on Seed’s pore pressure development model have been established, which can efficiently fit the dynamic shear modulus and the generation of excess pore water pressures in the tests, respectively. Full article

In this paper, the immiscible water-alternating-CO₂ flooding process at the LH11-1 oilfield, offshore Guangdong Province, was firstly evaluated using full-field reservoir simulation models. Based on a 3D geological model and oil production history, 16 scenarios of water-alternating-CO₂ injection operations with different water alternating gas (WAG) ratios and slug sizes, as well as continuous CO₂ injection (Con-CO₂) and primary depletion production (No-CO₂) scenarios, have been simulated spanning 20 years. The results represent a significant improvement in oil recovery by CO₂ WAG over both Con-CO₂ and No-CO₂ scenarios. The WAG ratio and slug size of water affect the efficiency of oil recovery and CO₂ injection. The optimum operations are those with WAG ratios lower than 1:2, which have the higher ultimate oil recovery factor of 24%. Although WAG reduced the CO₂ injection volume, the CO₂ storage efficiency is still high, more than 84% of the injected CO₂ was sequestered in the reservoir. Results indicate that the immiscible water-alternating-CO₂ processes can be optimized to improve significantly the performance of pressure maintenance and oil recovery in offshore reef heavy-oil reservoirs significantly. The simulation results suggest that the LH11-1 field is a good candidate site for immiscible CO₂ enhanced oil recovery and storage for the Guangdong carbon capture, utilization and storage (GDCCUS) project. Full article