China has newly installed its first 3-megawatt wind power generator at the East China Sea Bridge 100MW Offshore Wind Power Farm, a demonstrative offshore wind power project of the state and a key project of Shanghai Municipality.

The East China Sea Wind Power Farm is composed of 34 wind power generating units with the largest single-unit capacity in China, with a total installed capacity of 100.2 MW. It is designed to have annual power generation utilisation time of 2,600 hours and annual on-grid power supply of 267 million kwh and its total investment will amount to RMB2.365 billion. By 2010, the total wind power installed capacity of Shanghai will reach 293,000 kw, representing 1.5% of the city’s total installed capacity.

Currently, three 92-metre high huge windmills have been erected to the north of the East China Sea Bridge and the sites for the remaining 31 each with a capacity of 3MW are fixed. As scheduled all the 34 generators will have been installed, tested and put into operation before the Shanghai World Expo in the first half of 2010 so that Shanghai residents could use clean energy. 

In recent years, China has far outgrown other major wind power producing nations in wind power development pace, with the amount of investment for a single project ranging from tens of million yuan to tens of billion yuan. By the end of 2006, the country had built 100 wind farms and installed 3,307 wind power generating units, with total installed capacity of 2.6 million kw, including 1.33 million kw installed in that year, up 166% on year. The wind power capacity installed in 2006 exceeded the total sum of the previous 20 years.

Implementation of laws and government policies such as the Renewable Energy Law and the Implementing Opinions to Promote Wind Power Development, as well as the campaign to save energy and reduce discharges, has given a hand to great development of the wind power industry in China. According to a report released by the world wind energy association, China has become one of the leading nations in future wind power market development. (Other nations include the U.S., Canada, Australia, U.K, France, Japan, Italy, Brazil, India, the Philippines, Turkey and Poland).

According to preliminary verification by the Chinese Institute of Meteorological Sciences, China has total wind power reserve of 3.226 billion kw, ranking first in the world. The figure includes 253 million kw of exploitable onshore wind power reserve and 750 million kwh of exploitable offshore reserve, totalling some one billion kw, which is more than the hydropower reserve of the country. If calculated at the full load of 2,000 hours in annual onshore wind power generation, 500 billion kwh of electricity could be supplied annually, and if calculated at the full load of 2,500 hours in offshore wind power generation, 1.8 trillion kwh of electricity could be supplied per annum. The two could have combined annual output of 2.3 trillion kwh.

China's wind power reserve is 30 times the figure for India and 5 times the figure for Germany. However, wind power generating capacity only took a share of 0.42% in China’s total power capacity of 622 million kw by the end of 2006. At present, the total wind power capacity of China is only 1/2.5 of India and 1/8 of Germany. To change the situation of relying too much on coal resources and also in consideration of environmental protection pressures, China has great space for development of wind power and its market capacity is expanding quickly. Wind power is likely to surpass nuclear power to become China’s third largest power source by 2020 and further replace hydropower to become its second largest power source by 2050.

A related department has forecasted that China's wind power installed capacity will reach 15 million kw by 2010 and 30 million kw by 2020. At present, wind power construction cost in China is about RMB8,000-9,000 per kw, while wind power farms put 60-70% of their investment in power generating equipment that costs RMB4,800-6,300 per kw. The renewable energy branch of China Resource Comprehensive Utilisation Association holds that China will become the world's largest wind power market and wind power equipment manufacturing centre around 2010. The International Wind Energy Council holds that China may become the world's largest wind power equipment manufacturing base in 2009, with capacity of 10 million kw or 50% of the world's total.

Mu Rong