Green Energy (Renewable Energy): Wind power in China
From Wikipedia
China's total wind installation reached nearly 6,000 MW in capacity through 2007. At the end of 2008, wind power in China accounted for 12.2 gigawatts (GW) of electricity generating capacity. China has identified wind power as a key growth component of the country's economy.
By 2010 the total installed capacity for wind power generation in China will reach 20 gigawatts (GW).
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 RMB400 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 RMB1.6 billion from the generators.
In the next year, China will also become the world' leading exporter of wind turbines. And China 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 percent 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 (green 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 (green energy) in part because the cost of wind power is RMB0.53/kwh higher than power produced from coal plants; in 2007 total output of wind farms in Shanghai will be total 100 million kwh, which is sufficient to power 120,000 households. Though there were 22 entities that purchased renewable energy (green energy) in Shanghai, though with the exception of 1/3 of that total being state owned enterprises, the remainder was foreign invested enterprises. Shanghai 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 China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) 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.
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.
