Complementary Characteristics Between Hydro-Solar-Wind Power Factors in the Upper Yellow River Region During 1979~2018

In this paper, we focus on the four provinces (Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, and Inner Mongolia) in the upper Yellow River region and conduct a quantitative analysis of the spatiotemporal distributions of the precipitation (P), shortwave radiation (R), and wind speed (W) from 1979 to 2018 using the China Meteorological Forcing Dataset. The complementarity of these power factors is analyzed across multiple time scales and resolutions. A complementarity coefficient is introduced by integrating three correlation coefficients to evaluate the interrelationship between pairs of power factors. Additionally, the probability density distributions of individual and pairs of power factors are examined at the Longyangxia Clean Energy Base in Qinghai Province. The complementarity coefficients between the P and R, P and W, and R and W exhibited significant variations across regions. The complementarity coefficients for P and R were negative, ranging from −0.019 to −0.029 at the 3 h resolution and from −0.384 to −0.429 at the daily resolution, indicating a strong complementarity at the longer temporal resolution. The complementarity coefficients for P and W were positive, ranging from 0.029 to 0.047 at the 3 h resolution and from 0.038 to 0.065 at the daily resolution, indicating a stable correlation at different resolutions. The complementarity coefficients for R and W changed from positive at the 3 h resolution to negative at the daily resolution, indicating that the correlation changes to complementarity at different resolutions. The annual joint probability density is highest for daily precipitation ranging from 276.0 to 304.4 mm, daily shortwave radiation between 1832.6 and 1847.5 kW/m2, and daily mean wind speed varying from 1.7 to 1.8 m/s.