图1. 2025年8月7日《科学美国人》头条
正值创刊180周年之际，全球顶级科普杂志《科学美国人》（Scientific American）头条以“中国如何将清洁能源带入南极严寒黑夜之中（How China Brought Clean Energy to Antarctica’s Frigid Darkness）”为题，详细介绍了由太原理工大学孙宏斌教授牵头设计研发的中国秦岭站清洁能源系统，以及由该校牵头建成的极地清洁能源实验室，引发国际广泛关注。
图2. 中国南极秦岭站
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原文节选
五年前，该校孙宏斌教授团队接到了一项在许多人看来“不可能完成”的任务：在地球极寒之地、直面呼啸狂风与半年极夜，搭建一套完备的清洁能源系统。
Five years ago electrical engineer Sun Hongbin was given what many would consider an impossible task: build a full-fledged clean-energy system amid some of the coldest temperatures on Earth, screaming winds and half-year darkness.
当时，中国正在南极特拉诺瓦湾难言岛建造第五座科考站—秦岭站。恰逢中国政府正倡导“绿色科考”理念，旨在开展南极科考的同时，保护这片大陆独特又脆弱的生态环境。团队表示：“一套以可再生能源为主、为秦岭站提供主要能源供应的系统，恰好契合这一目标”。
China was then building its fifth Antarctic research station, called Qinling, on Inexpressible Island in Terra Nova Bay. And the nation’s government was pushing the concept of “green expeditions” to protect Antarctica’s uniquely fragile environment while studying and surveying the continent. “So having a system that would provide the bulk of Qinling’s energy with renewable power fit that goal,” Sun says.
然而，传统风光装备难以扛住骤降至-40℃以下的极寒、时速300公里的狂风及猛烈的暴风雪。极端条件会能轻易折断风机叶片、大幅削弱光伏效能、导致电池充放电异常，而且半年极夜期间不见太阳。为这片地球最寒冷、最黑暗、最偏远的大陆打造能源系统是“一个巨大的挑战”。
But conventional solar and wind installations are no match for temperatures that plummet below –40 degrees Celsius, winds of up to 300 kilometers per hour (kmh) and ferocious blizzards. Such conditions can snap wind turbine blades, sharply reduce the performance of solar panels, and prevent batteries from charging and discharging properly. And of course, there are the six months of polar night, when the sun never rises above the horizon. “It was a huge challenge” to build a system for the Earth’s coldest, darkest and most remote continent
图3. 秦岭站清洁能源系统
为此，秦岭站清洁能源系统集成了10台风机、26套光伏组件、1套氢能系统、1套耐寒锂离子电池集装箱，并通过智能电网实现能源供需精准预测和动态平衡。目前该系统已投入运行，团队表示，其有望满足科考站年均一半的能源需求。
It consists of 10 wind turbines, 26 solar modules, a hydrogen energy system, a container full of frost-resistant lithium-ion batteries and a smart grid that can predict and balance supply and demand. The entire renewable system is now running and, according to Sun, should provide half of the base’s average annual energy needs.
“清洁能源的使用，是维护南极大陆清洁的重大进步。”未参与该项目的韩国国家极地研究委员会主席金礼东表示，“其他科考站或需学习他们如何实现如此多的清洁能源供应，这太了不起了”。
“The use of clean energy is a huge advancement to keep the continent clean,” says Kim Yeadong, chair of the Korean National Committee on Polar Research in South Korea, who was not involved with the project. “Other stations will probably have to learn how they achieve that much clean energy. I think it's remarkable.”
图4. 秦岭站所在地——罗斯海沿岸
走向清洁能源（COME CLEAN）
为了克服极端环境挑战，该团队在太原理工大学建成一座2000平方米的实验室，专门模拟南极极端天气条件。该实验室配备了可将室内温度降至-50℃的温控系统、最大风速达216公里/小时的风洞，以及迅速制造暴雪的造雪机。
To overcome those hurdles, Sun and his team built a 2,000-square-meter lab at Taiyuan University to simulate Antarctica’s extreme weather conditions. It features controls that can drop the indoor temperature to –50 degrees C, a wind machine that can blast out gusts of up to 216 kmh and snow generators that can whip up instant blizzards.
图5. 太原理工大学极地清洁能源实验室正在进行电池测试
经过四年测试，团队研发出多款适配南极环境的可再生能源装备与系统。其中一款风机设计摒弃了传统风车式的叶片结构，采用倒置打蛋器式造型——每片弧形叶片的两端均固定于中心轴。据团队介绍，该设计可减少叶片受风面积，在捕获足够发电风力的同时最大限度降低结构应力，且通过降低机组重心，有效避免狂风中倾倒。
Over four years of testing, the team developed a number of Antarctic-ready renewable energy systems. One design is a turbine that eschews the pinwheel-like blades of a traditional windmill; instead it is shaped like an upended eggbeater, with both ends of each curved blade attached to a central pole. This design reduces the surface area of the blade being pushed on by the wind, minimizing stress on the structure while still capturing enough force to generate electricity. And it lowers the turbine’s center of gravity to help prevent it from toppling in the wind, Sun says.
针对太阳能发电系统，团队设计了专用支撑框架将电池板固定于地面，使其更能抵御狂风暴雪。框架材质未采用常见的铝合金，而是选用纤维增强塑料。团队解释道，后者导热系数更低，意味着寒潮来袭时框架温度变化更为缓慢，因此不易发生变形。
For the solar power system, a special supporting frame was built to secure the panels to the ground so that they can better weather gales and heavy snow. And instead of the usual aluminum alloy, the frame is made of fiber-reinforced plastic. The latter has lower thermal conductivity, Sun’s team explains, meaning the frame’s temperature changes much more slowly when cold sets in and thus doesn’t deform as easily.
该团队采取的最关键举措，或许是将氢能引入秦岭站，支撑科考站度过漫长黑暗的极夜。为制备可再生氢能，电解槽利用风能和太阳能将水分子分解为氧气和氢气。孙宏斌教授团队介绍，氢气会储存于高压储罐中，可储存一年以上；储罐满负荷状态下，仅靠氢能即可维持整个科考站约48小时运转。发电时，氢气会被导入燃料电池与空气中的氧气发生反应产生电能，副产品只有水和热。前者被回收用于后续电解制氢，热量则储存起来，在电解槽因低温无法运行时为其加热。
But perhaps the most significant step the team took was bringing hydrogen energy to Qinling to help power the station through the long and dark winter. To produce renewable hydrogen, an apparatus called an electrolyzer is powered by wind and solar energy to split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen. The latter goes into high-pressure tanks that can store it for more than a year; when full, the tanks alone can keep the entire base running for around 48 hours, according to Sun’s team. To do so, the hydrogen is directed into an electrochemical device called a fuel cell, where it reacts with oxygen from the air to produce electricity, with only water and heat as by-products. The former is recycled to use in further electrolysis, and the latter is stored to warm up the electrolyzer when it becomes too cold to run.
图6. 秦岭站逾半能源将来自可再生能源系统
满负荷运行时，可再生能源系统可提供秦岭站能源系统总发电量的60%，其余40%由柴油发电提供。但团队决心进一步提升这一比例，并计划将清洁能源系统推广至中国其他极地科考站。加州大学伯克利分校Daniel Kammen教授评价：“60%是一个伟大的起点，但还须进一步提升”，“目标必须是全年100%可再生能源。”
The renewable system can currently produce 60 percent of the overall output of Qinling’s energy system when it’s running at full blast, with the remaining 40 percent coming from diesel. But Sun and his team are determined to raise that percentage—and to bring clean-energy systems to other Chinese polar bases as well. “Sixty percent is a great start, but one needs to ramp up,” Kammen says. “The goal really needs to be 100 percent renewable energy all year-round.”
COME CLEAN
全文阅读
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-china-made-an-antarctic-station-run-on-majority-clean-energy/
来源 | 电气与动力工程学院
责编 | 樊依青 王志福
排版 | 张华
初审 | 郎宇
复审 | 郭亮
终审 | 赵国俊
信息来源：太原理工大学。
转载请注明信息来源及海洋知圈编排。
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