China On Track for Rapid Wind Power Development

The recent 12th Five-year Plan released by the Chinese government shows wind power development in China surging full speed ahead.

Nanjing Shanglong Communications
March 09, 2011 | 3 Comments

According to the recently released 12th Five-Year Plan from the Chinese government, the wind power sector in China is primed to continue its rapid development.

The country has rich wind resources, ranking third in the world behind Russia and the U.S. Technically exploitable onshore wind resources total 300 GW, and offshore resources are as high as 700 GW, according to the latest wind resource assessment. To date, however, only a small fraction of those resources have been developed.

The government cites the great importance that China attaches to energy conservation as another driving force for the continuous development of the wind power industry during the country’s 12th Five-Year Plan as well as important subsidies that are in place to support wind power development.

In 2009, National Development and Reform Commission of China set a tariff for on-shore wind projects based on location and the availability of wind resources and construction conditions. This pricing mechanism has been conducive to the healthy development of the industry as it avoids vicious price competition.

Western China, well known as a key area for development of traditional energies in the country, has achieved rapid development in new energies as well. In November 2010, the National Energy Administration and the provincial government of Gansu celebrated the completion of the first phase of China’s first 1 GW wind power facility in the region, which is slated to have a final installed capacity of 1.27 GW by 2015.

Also in November, a host of wind power projects in Hami, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, took further steps towards their development, gaining necessary preliminary environmental permits to go forward with construction. Together these proposed projects would have a total capacity of 2 GW. Ten companies, including China Datang Corporation Renewable Power, China Huadian Corporation and China Power Investment Corporation, are investors in the projects, which totals RMB 4.3 billion (approx. US$655 million), according to a local governmental official. Installed wind power capacity in the region was just 10 MW in 2009, but is expected to hit more than 1 GW by 2014.

3 Comments

Dominic Jermano
March 12, 2011

The Wind Turbines are unsightly ugly, noisy albatrosses. The Chinese are seeing that spending Billions on these is a complete waste of time, when they know it is only a 50% gradable resource, meaning the wind does not blow all the time. I appreciate seeing open plains, and spaces. The world has gone mad to construct more and more tall buildings and ugly Wind Turbines. Take your turbines and stick it up your Assolar Panel.

Joseph Fournier
March 11, 2011

If only North America could expand and innovate as quickly as communist China?!

Anumakonda Jagadeesh
March 11, 2011

Yes. China is world leader in Wind Energy today and has ambitious plans to mach ahead in the cpming years.

Here are details:

Wind power in the People's Republic of China

At the end of 2010, wind power in the People's Republic of China accounted for 41.8 gigawatts (GW) of electricity generating capacity, and China has identified wind power as a key growth component of the country's economy. With its large land mass and long coastline, China has exceptional wind resources. Researchers from Harvard and Tsinghua University have found that China could meet all of their electricity demands from wind power through 2030.
By the end of 2008, at least 15 Chinese companies were commercially producing wind turbines and several dozen more were producing components. Turbine sizes of 1.5 MW to 3 MW became common. Leading wind power companies in China were Goldwind, Dongfang Electric, and Sinovel along with most major foreign wind turbine manufacturers. China also increased production of small-scale wind turbines to about 80,000 turbines (80 MW) in 2008. Through all these developments, the Chinese wind industry appeared unaffected by the global financial crisis, according to industry observers.
In 2010, China became the largest wind energy provider worldwide, with the installed wind power capacity reaching 41.8 GW at the end of 2010. According to the Global Wind Energy Council, the development of wind energy in China, in terms of scale and rhythm, is absolutely unparalleled in the world. The National People's Congress permanent committee passed a law that requires the Chinese energy companies to purchase all the electricity produced by the renewable energy sector.

There are plans to go in for offshore wind farms in a big way in China.The Gansu Wind Farm proposed for western Gansu province is one of six national wind power megaprojects approved by the Chinese government. It is expected to grow to 20,000 MW by 2020.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India

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Liu Yuanyuan

Nanjing Shanglong Communications Liu Yuanyuan is Director of Operations and Co-Founder of Nanjing Shanglong Communications. Liu Yuanyuan previously held the position of office manager at the London Financial Times' China translation and...