User:Joeldebo/Wind power in the People's Republic of China

Wind power in the People's Republic of China has been an important sector of renewable energy growth in China that has increased dramatically in recent years. Chinese wind energy capacity has increased from only 1,260 MW in 2005 to 62,000 MW by the end of 2011, an increase of 5,000% in just 6 years. According to the Global Wind Energy Council, this growth is unparalleled in the world. This growth has largely been driven by the high wind energy potential in China and national government policies encouraging the growth of this sector. The potential for wind farms is so large in China due to its long coastline and large land mass, both providing ample space for expansive wind farms. Realizing this, the National People's Congress permanent committee passed a law that requires Chinese energy companies to purchase all the electricity produced by the renewable energy sector to facilitate growth.

In 2010, China became the world leader in installed wind power capacity. The growth of the wind energy sector is expected to continue to grow at a rapidly increasing pace. In China's 12th Five-year Plan, targets were placed for a capacity of 90 GW by 2015 and 200 GW by 2020, more than twice the capacity than the entire world's current capacity. Most of the growth is expected to be in the northern and eastern regions of China, although Offshore wind development is expected to play an increasingly important role as China is expected to have an offshore capacity of 30 GW by 2020.

History


The primary domestic wind turbine manufacturer in China is Goldwind from the Xinjiang province. Established in 1998, Goldwind aggressively developed new technology and expanded its market share up to 35% in 2006.

Chinese developers also manufactured the world’s first 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, on which construction began in November 2007. The company expects a yearly revenue of CN¥1.6 billion from the generators, which are unique in their utilization of magnets, which allows for increased efficiency and functionality even at lower speeds



Shanghai’s first domestically produced wind farm was located in Lingang New Town; the 7 MW wind farm began 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.

In 2006 the Shanghai Power Company purchased 64.485 million kW·h of green energy (primarily from wind farms), yet the amount of renewable energy which was bought by customers from Shanghai Power Company was only 23% of that total. In 2006 there were just 6,482 households in Shanghai that subscribed to renewable energy, in part because the cost of wind power is 0.53 Yuan/kW·h higher than power produced from coal plants; in 2007 total output of wind farms in Shanghai will total 100 million kW·h, which is sufficient to power 120,000 households. Though there were 22 entities that purchased renewable energy in Shanghai, though with the exception of 1/3 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 kW·h over three years.

The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), aiming to diversify from its core oil and gas business, began 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.

The nearest wind farm to China's capital is Guanting, about 90 minutes drive from the city centre near the Badaling section of the Great Wall. Although it is started relatively small, with only 47 wind turbines, it has since grown to over 100 turbines.

Wind energy potential in China
According to the third National Wind Energy Resources Census, China’s total exploitable capacity for both land-based and offshore wind energy is around 700-1,200 GW. Compared to the other leading global wind power markets, China’s wind resources are closest to that of the United States, and greatly exceed resources in India, Germany or Spain.

Outlook for 2011 and beyond
Despite its rapid and seemingly unhindered expansion, the Chinese wind power sector continues to face significant challenges, including issues surrounding grid access and integration, reliability of turbines and a coherent strategy for developing China’s offshore wind resource. These issues were prominent during discussions around the twelfth Five-Year Plan, which passed in March 2011. According to the draft plan, this is expected to reflect the Chinese government’s continuous and reinforced commitment to wind power development, with national wind energy targets of 90 GW for 2015 and 200 GW for 2020.

Rate of Development – Quality Control issues
Though the market share of wind development in China has rapidly expanded in recent years, wind developers are now facing technical issues. This rise in production has been fuelled by domestic demand for wind power, which is aligned with the government standards, and a requirement for 70% of wind turbine components to be manufactured locally. This rapid development has been coupled with decreasing quality control standards, leading to equipment malfunctions and occupational safety issues. . A nationwide inspection of over 360 current wind farms and 80 under contruction by the State Electricity Regulatory Commission resulted in safety upgrades for fifty-three percent of these wind farms. In 2011, there were over two hundred accidents on wind turbines, the majority of which are speculated to be results of improper manufacturing (windpowermonthly.com). These effects would only be exacerbated if this strategy was deployed for offshore wind farms

Market and Policy Developments
Between 2006, and 2009, China's wind energy capacity doubled each year, and growth is continuing at very high rates. China overtook the United States as the world leader in installed capacity in 2010, adding 16.5 GW in just one year. In 2011, China added another 20.2 GW of capacity, the most it has added in one year. This unprecedented increase is expected to continue through at least 2020, when China's wind power is expected to reach 200 GW. This growth has largely been the result of unmatched investment in wind power in China, mostly with national level policies. In 2009 alone, China invested 20 billion USD into wind power. China's has shown a clear commitment to wind power both now and into the future.

National Policies
In 2006, a milestone was reached in China when the first Renewable Energy Law went into effect. This law began being implemented in 2007, which provided energy developers with new incentives to build wind farms. However, this law managed renewable energy in general and was not specifically about wind energy. The Renewable Energy Law was later amended in 2009 to require grid operators to purchase a fixed amount of renewable energy. Also in 2009, The National Development and Reform Commission issued "A Notice to Accomplish the Price Policy of Wind Power into Electricity Grid". The Notice divided the whole country into four regions (see table below for regional breakdown) according to wind energy resource potential, and established a benchmark price mechanism in accordance with its region. It strengthened the previously tentative regulation on electricity generated from renewable sources and explicitly listed wind energy as a government supported energy source in future development. The setting of a price floor within each region secured the return of wind developer’s investments by relieving the previous risk that came with investing in unstable energy markets by essentially placing a feed-in tariff on wind power generation that varied by region.

==== Recent National Wind Power Policy Changes in China ====

Offshore Wind Development
Offshore wind power in China is attractive for several reasons. First of all, there are large electricity markets on China's east coast that are rapidly growing. This will lead to increasing energy demands in future years that will need diversified sources of energy in order to be met since fossil fuel resources in the area are quickly being depleted. A large network of wind farms off the coast could ease this energy burden. The Chinese government has recognized this and has put into place strong policy support for offshore wind development, the main driver of the attraction to this sector. In the August of 2010, the National Energy Bureau and the State Oceanic Administration jointly issued the "Interim Measures for the Administration of Development and Construction of Offshore Wind Power” (guo neng xin neng [2009] No 29). This regulation set standards that cover the entire development process of offshore wind energy, including planning, assessment and authorization of construction, marine environment protection, project acceptance criteria, and operation and maintenance. The regulation calls for a summary of guidelines on best offshore wind development practices and stipulates the best suitable technological standards under domestic constraints.

In the twelfth five-year plan, China explicitly stated that by 2015 it plans on reaching 5GW of offshore installed capacity, and 7.5-10TWh of electricity generation. This would total around 4% of total wind energy generated in China that year. By 2020, China will have an offshore capacity of 30 GW, which will make it the leader of the world in offshore-wind power development.

Clean Development Mechanism
China is the beneficiary of a large number of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects approved by the United Nations, with almost 40% of all approved CDM projects funded in China. These projects have had a significant impact on wind energy development in China. However, in 2009, the CDM executive board decided to pull and cut-off funding on many wind-related CDM projects in China due to disputes over the amount of "additionality" provided by these projects. While funding was continued in 2010 for several wind projects, the executive board has been much more hesitant regarding wind energy projects both in China and around the world. However, this did not prevent the 3,000th CDM project to be a wind farm in China.

Regional Hotspots
While there is some potential for wind energy in the western regions of China, the highest potential exists in the northern and eastern provinces of China. This is not only because of higher and more consistent winds, but also due to major population centers being along the east coast. For this reason, a large majority of the current capacity in China is located in these northern and eastern provinces. Due to varied wind resources across China and differing technical and economic conditions, wind power development to date has been focused on a few regions and provinces, including: Inner Mongolia, the Northwest, the Northeast, Hebei Province, the Southeast coast and offshore islands. A breakdown by province can be seen in the chart below.

Provincial Hotspots in China

Grid connection problems
Grid Construction A common issue met by major wind power projects is the difficulties that arise when attempting to integrate the generated electricity into the grid. The major issue that arises with integration is the instability and lack of consistency that wind power brings, which can put high amounts of strain on the infrastructure, causing grid owners to be reluctant to accept this electricity. This can greatly slow down construction and integration into the system, since it can be several months before a wind project is properly integrated into the grid. Another issue is that most wind development of large wind farms has been in remote areas of the country, like Northwest China, which in very high costs for constructing transmission lines to these locations. Recent problems for Wind development in China revolve around the issue of national grid connectivity.

In order to address this issue and keep up with the rapid development of wind energy in China, the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) and relevant technology institutions began investing in studies and research in November of 2011. The aim of this research is to identify solutions to obstacles obstructing connection in major wind power regions, such as Inner Mongolia, Gansu, and Northern China. These studies are concentrated on the relationship of development of large-scale power systems and the connection of wind power, as an usable source of electricity, to the grid. A cost analysis was also completed on the existing infrastructure's ability to absorb this inconsistent power. In China’s twelfth five-year-plan, the government committed to an investment of CH￥50 billion ($8 billion USD) that will be used to update the grid. The studies and research that will be completed by then are meant to serve as a valuable resource for decision-making in the connection of wind power to updated grid system. In 2011, more than half of all wind-generated electricity in China went unused and grid-connected capacity lagged behind installed capacity by thirty percent. As a result, Chinese grid companies are unlikely to accept significant amounts of wind-generated electricity, and mandated grid connections appear to be a poor solution. With the integration of both mandates and incentives for grid connection of wind-generated electricity, agreements have been made to connect 80GW of wind power to the national grid by 2015, and 150GW by 2020 (GWEC). The Chinese government has also made strides to update the national grid. Between 2006 and 2010, Chinese government invested twenty billion yuan into Ultra High Voltage transmission lines, and in it’s 12th Five-year plan, China will invest another 500B yuan into grid updates.