Wind power in China

Wind farm in Xinjiang, China

At the end of 2008, wind power in China accounted for 12.2 gigawatts (GW) of electricity generating capacity and China has identified wind power as a key growth component of the country's economy. China is the fourth largest producer of wind power, after the United States, Germany, and Spain. The initial target set by the Chinese government was 10GW by 2010, but estimates suggest that by 2010 the total installed capacity for wind power generation in China will reach 20 GW. China aims to have 100 gigawatts of wind power capacity by 2020.

Details

A Goldwind wind farm outside of Urumqi, Xinjiang, China

The primary domestic wind turbine manufacturer in China is Goldwind (金风科技股份有限公司) from Xinjiang province. Established in 1998, Goldwind has been aggressively developing new technology and expanding its market share, accounting for 35% in 2006. As a 55% state-owned company Goldwind has been a primary beneficiary of government policies that protected the niche market and preferentially supported utilisation of domestically manufactured wind turbines.

Of the total of 80 wind farms presently operating in China, the China Longyuan Electric Power Group Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Guodian Group Corp., operates 32 wind farms in China; these 32 wind farms have 952 windmills that cumulatively have installed capacity of 780MW, or approximately 30% of total wind generating capacity in China.

Chinese developers unveiled the world’s first permanent Maglev wind turbine at the Wind Power Asia Exhibition 2006 held June 28 in Beijing. Chinese company Zhongke Hengyuan Energy Technology invested CN¥400 million in building the base for the maglev wind turbine generators, in which construction began in November 2007. The company expects a yearly revenue of CN¥1.6 billion from the generators.

According to reports from the 2007 China (Shanghai) International Wind Energy Exhibition held on April 10, 2007 at the Shanghai New International Exhibition Center, by 2010, 5% of Shanghai’s energy needs will be generated from wind power. Shanghai’s first domestically produced wind farm will locate in Lingang New Town; the 7 MW wind farm will begin generating power in early 2008 and the power generated from this wind farm will be connected to the Huadong Eastern China Power Grid. Over the past several years new wind farms have been built in Shanghai, including the Nanhui Wind Farm, the Qinjian Bay Wind Farm and the Chongming Dongtan (Eastern Beaches) Wind Farm. Together these three wind farms have 18 windmills with a total of 24.4 MW. Because land based wind farms require a large amount of land, Shanghai is pursuing ocean-based wind farms; the first ocean based wind farm which Shanghai is constructing is the "Juwuba" East China Sea Bridge 100 MW wind farm. When completed the Juwaba East China Sea Bridge wind farm will produce 260 million kwh/annum; based on average power consumption of 1200 kwh/annum/household in Shanghai, the sea based wind farm would be able to supply the power needs of 170,000 households in Shanghai.

In 2006 the Shanghai Power Company purchased 64.485 million kwh of green energy (primarily from wind farms), yet the amount of renewable energy which was subscribed by customers from Shanghai Power Company was only 23% of that total. In 2006 there were just 6482 households in Shanghai that subscribed to renewable energy in part because the cost of wind power is 0.53 Yuan/kwh higher than power produced from coal plants; in 2007 total output of wind farms in Shanghai will total 100 million kwh, which is sufficient to power 120,000 households. Though there were 22 entities that purchased renewable energy in Shanghai, though with the exception of 1/3rd of that total being state owned enterprises, the remainder was foreign invested enterprises. Shanghai’s city government did not purchase any renewable energy. Of the top ten power customers in Shanghai, only Bao Steel purchased renewable energy; in 2006 Bao Steel entered into an agreement to purchase 1.2 million kwh over three years.

The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), aiming to diversify from its core oil and gas business, will be seeking international companies interested in cooperating with them to develop offshore wind farms, said CNNOOC president Fu Chengyu at a conference in Hainan Province on April 22, 2007.

See also

• Energy policy of China
• Renewable energy in China
• Maglev wind turbine

External links

• China Wind Systems Announces Completion of Large Scale Manufacturing Facility for Wind Components
• China wind power report 2007 (Greenpeace China)
• China wind power capacity growing
• Chinese Wind Energy Association (Chinese)
• China Wind Systems Begins Producing Forged Products at New Facility