Shanghai Shanjie Electric S&T Co.,Ltd
Shanghai Shanjie Electric S&T Co.,Ltd
Chinese version

China's thriving wind power industry will expand at a slower pace

 

BEIJING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- China's soaring wind power industry, which enjoyed three-digit annual growth in the four years preceding 2009, will slow down its annual growth pace in the near future, said a leading Chinese wind industry official Friday in Beijing.

"China's wind power capacity will maintain two-digit growth annually in the future," said Shi Pengfei, vice-president of the China Wind Energy Association (CWEA) at the Renewable Energy Grid Integration China 2010 Forum, which closed Friday in Beijing.

"This slowdown of the annual growth rate can be attributed to the mammoth number of Chinese wind power stations," said Shi.

CWEA figures show that wind turbines installed in 2010 added a total of 18.9 gigawatts to China's total wind power capacity, a 37.1 percent increase over 2009. This propelled China's total wind power capacity to 44.7 gigawatts, or a 73.3 percent increase over 2009. China passed the United States to become the world's largest producer of wind-generated electricity in 2010.

The annual growth of China's cumulative wind power capacity averaged 113 percent from 2006 to 2009.

Shi said that wind turbines planned for installation across the country from 2011 to 2012 will add another 30 gigawatts to China's total wind power capacity.

China's wind power boom came in the wake of a series of preferential policies and laws passed by the government in support of the development of renewable energy, as represented by the Renewable Energy Law enacted in February 2005. The Chinese wind power industry has developed quickly since the passing of that law and exceeded the expectations of industry observers.

According to the Medium- and Long-term Plan of Renewable Energy Development issued by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in September 2007, China was scheduled to have a total of 30 gigawatts of wind power capacity by the end of 2020.

However, China met that ambitious target 10 years ahead of schedule with an extra 14.7 gigawatts to spare, as shown in the CWEA figures for 2010.

The slowdown in the annual growth rate is also attributed to the development pattern of the Chinese wind power industry, said Shi.

Differing from European countries, where wind power is consumed in local markets, Chinese wind power is mainly generated in northern and western areas that boast rich wind energy resources but have lower power demands due to their less-developed economies.

This makes it imperative for China to construct large wind power projects in northern and western areas, and send electricity generated there to consumers in the economic powerhouses of central and eastern China.

"The grid apparently does not have sufficient capacity to fulfill this task at the present time," said Shi.

China's State Grid Corporation, the country's largest electric power company, has been expanding in line with the Medium- and Long-term Plan of Renewable Energy Development, while wind farms are constructed at far faster rates by enthusiastic state-owned power companies in order to meet state-stipulated quotas for generating power through renewable methods. Wealthy private investors are also pouring cash and resources into the construction of new turbines, believing that their investments will result in vast profits as China's wind power industry continues to blossom.

Under the Medium- and Long-term Plan of Renewable Energy Development, China should have added five gigawatts of wind power through the construction of new turbines in 2010. However, the swift expansion of the industry resulted in the addition of 13 gigawatts of power to China's total capacity in 2009, boosting its total wind power capacity to 25 gigawatts, far beyond what was anticipated.

The State Grid has been trying to expand its ability to supply this surplus of power to different regions by building a series of long-distance extra-high voltage (EHV) transmission lines.

The State Grid says it has completed studies for wind power transmission for the country's eight 10-gigawatt wind power bases with the more efficient EHV transmission lines in place. State Grid says that 1,000of the new transmission lines may transmit electric power over 1,500 km, and more advanced transmission lines will be able to move electricity across distances of 3,000 km or more in the near future.

Liu Zhenya, general manager of the State Grid, announced that his company would invest 500 billion yuan (75.8 billion U.S. dollars) over the next five years to construct a new "smart" electricity grid which will feature three north-south and three east-west long-distance EHV AC transmission lines, as well as 11 EHV DC transmission lines.

 

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