Wind power in China

At the end of 2007, wind power in China accounted for less than one per cent of electricity production in the country, with an installed capacity of just over 6 gigawatts (GW). China is the fifth largest producer of wind power, after Germany, the United States, Spain, and India.

Wind power industry statistics show that by the end of 2008 China's total installed base of wind power production will reach 10 GW, and estimates suggest that by 2010 the total installed capacity for wind power generation in China will reach 20 GW.

Details
China's total wind installation reached nearly 6,000 MW in capacity through 2007.

Chinese developers unveiled the world’s first full-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.

In the next year, China will also become the world' leading exporter of wind turbines and it is also highly competitive in solar water heaters, energy efficient home appliances, and rechargeable batteries..

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.

Installed capacity of wind power in China increased 1040 MW or 82.5% from the end of 2005 to the end of 2006. Of the total of 80 wind farms presently operating in China, the China Longyuan Electric Power 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.

Companies
Goldwind (Jinfeng) has emerged as the leading Chinese wind turbine manufacturer. A Chinese company, Goldwind currently holds about 3 percent of market share in global wind turbine sales. Within China it captured some 30 percent of sales in 2006.

(((CSIC - Chongqing Haizhuang Windpower Co Ltd was founded in 2004. In 2008 Haizhuang Windpower Co. built a new assembly plant for assembly of 850Kw & 2Mw units. CSIC Chongqing Gearbox Co. manufactures speed-up gearboxes for wind turbines.)))