China - Wind power developments

China has announced its plans to construct a number of 10 GW wind power bases, in a bid to further boost the development of the country's renewable energy industry.

Zhang Guobao, administrator of the Chinese National Energy Administration, said: “China has worked out the strategy of building large (wind power) bases and integrating them into the mainstream power grid in order to speed up the pace of wind power development in the country.”

Vigorously developing renewable energy, including wind power, forms part of the country's ongoing strategy to contribute to the global campaign for combating climate change.

Currently, the world's installed capacity of wind power has reached 120 GW, and wind power is becoming an increasing part of the world's energy structure. Although a developing country, China places special emphasis on increasing its use of renewable energy such as wind power. By the end of 2008, the country's installed capacity of wind power had hit over 10 GW. The Chinese government also passed the Renewable Energy Law to provide strong legal support to the development of renewable energy in the country.

As part of the estimation in Medium and Long-Term Development Plan for Renewable Energy in China, issued by National Development and Reform Commission, the total exploitable potential wind power resources in the country could reach over 1,000 GW, of which onshore wind power resources would provide about 300 GW with offshore wind power resources around 700GW.

Sinovel is the first company in China that has the capacity to build MW-level wind turbines. In a bid to enhance its R&D capacity, sharpen its competitive edge in domestic and international markets and accelerate its sustainable development, the company has now set up a R&D center, employing some 200 veteran technology staff members in dedicated wind turbine research.

Sinovel Wind Ltd has sign joint design and development contracts with Austria Windtec Co. It has also signed certification contracts with the Germanisher Lloyd Group.

The construction of the Shanghai East Sea Bridge Wind Power Plant has marked a good start for development of the country's offshore wind power generation.

The first set of 34 wind power turbines for the country's first offshore wind power farm began the construction in March this year. The $336.56 million project is expected to generate 267 GWh of electricity annually, and will supply clean power to the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.

To better use wind power resources, Zhang has called for strong efforts to be made to develop offshore wind power resources as offshore wind energy offers higher wind speeds, no occupancy of land resources and smaller impact on the environment.

The economically well-developed eastern areas of the country suffer from a shortage of fossil fuels, but enjoy sufficient offshore wind power resources. It is particularly important to develop offshore wind resources to power the economic growth in these regions.

Shi Lishan, deputy director general of the New and Renewable Energy Department of the National Energy Administration, as well as program director of China Renewable Energy Scale-up Program, said that compared with onshore wind power, offshore wind power generation entails more complicated working conditions, tougher technical requirements and greater difficulties in installation.

All these bring new challenges to turbine manufacturing, project construction, operation and management.

In addition, more attention must be paid to offshore wind power project planning in order to maintain a harmonious relationship with other sectors such as harbors, navigation channels and offshore breeding facilities, and to ensure protection of the environment.

It is projected China’s wind power base will reach 100 gigawatts by 2020. In recent weeks, Chinese government officials have confirmed this is their actual goal. The Chinese Wind Energy Association, a state run agency, recently issued a report containing what it calls conservative and positive projections. The conservative target for 2020 was 108 gigawatts of wind generated electricity. The positive target was 132 gigawatts. No matter whose data or forecast you use, aggressive growth in China’s wind sector is expected to extend well beyond the next decade.

Many companies are already capitalizing on this sector growth in a substantial way by selling wind turbine core electrical components to customers like Sinovel Wind, General Electric (GE) and Vestas Wind Systems.

For more information, please contact Trevor Sievert at ts@windfair.net