Which country has the world's largest installed wind power?

[mr friendly guy]

China

China to Focus on Accelerating Offshore Wind in Fujian

Posted on Jan 17th, 2011

China in 2010 became the country with the most installed wind-power capacity, supplanting the United States, industry officials said Wednesday.

China installed 16GW of new wind-power capacity in 2010, a 62 percent year-on-year growth rate, taking its total installed capacity to 41.8GW, Li Junfeng, secretary general of Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association (CREIA), said at the association’s annual New Year meeting in Beijing.

The US installed about 5GW of new wind-power capacity in 2010, taking its total installed capacity to 40.2GW, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).

US investors’ confidence in the renewable energy sector suffered because the US failed to enact binding climate change-limiting legislation.

The wind-power capacity installed in China in 2010 will save 31.3 million metric tons of coal per year, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 90 million tons, suspended particles by nearly 33,000 tons, sulfur dioxide by 64,000 tons and nitric oxide by 60,000 tons.

China’s wind power industry has developed by leaps and bounds in recent years, boosted by the promulgation of the Renewable Energy Law in February 2005.

China’s cumulative installed wind-power capacity increased by more than 100 percent for five consecutive years.

China will increase cumulative grid-connected installed wind-power capacity to 55GW this year and increase cumulative installed wind-power capacity to 100GW by 2015. By 2020, it plans to have 200GW of installed capacity.

This year, China will start building the second-stage of the 5GW wind-power project in Jiuquan in northwest China’s Gansu province; the 2GW wind power project in Hami in northwest China’s Xinjiang; the 2GW wind power project in Kailu in north China’s Inner Mongolia; and the 1.5GW wind power project in Tongyu in northeast China’s Jilin province.

China will also kick off the building of a 1GW offshore wind-power project in east China’s Jiangsu province. It will accelerate offshore wind-power projects in the eastern coastal provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Zhejiang and Fujian. It will also speed up development of the second-stage of Shanghai’s East Sea Bridge offshore wind farm.

The State Council, China’s cabinet, is considering a 5-trillion-yuan ($758 billion) emerging energy industrial development plan. If approved, some 1.5 trillion yuan ($227 billion) of investment will flow into the wind-power sector.

A few thoughts.

1. I have found this fact mentioned on wind power sites, even mentioned in passing in Forbes and also mentioned of course in Chinese news sites (English editions aimed a global audience). At a cursory glance it doesn't appear to have been picked up by some Western news sites I usually peruse like CNN & BBC.

2. Another article I have read suggests that some parts of the wind capacity is not utilised fully because of outdated grid infrastructure. One would think with their economy benefiting from new infrastructure projects, they should be able to find funds to build this infrastructure.

3. Congrats to the Chinese wind industry which according to Forbes has added two new billionaires to the rich list. Now I predict the naysayers will jump in, in 3...2...1

And in response to some of China's methods of boosting renewable wind power

The US has filed a complaint to the WTO

This case will likely take a while to settle, however since combating climate change is quite important, I would have thought the US should simply enact similar measures to support their renewables. As the article mentions, the US subsidises fossil fuel industries according to a World Bank 2010 report, so just switch the support to renewables and compete on an equal footing. Or we could get do what the US GREEN stimulus package did back in the day... create jobs in China.

[weemadando]

200GW by 2020 is pretty impressive. Is that assuming infrastructure increases though, as you imply that the current infrastructure in generating areas isn't sufficient to deal with the new power?

I often wonder whether somewhere like China (where you can get away this kind of stuff more easily if you have the cash/influence) would ever give us a reasonable test bed for compulsory household level generation of wind and solar power.

Some of their infrastructure projects (like the new cities for anticipated residents and the like) would seem to be great possibilities for this.

[Steel]

200GW by 2020 is pretty impressive. Is that assuming infrastructure increases though, as you imply that the current infrastructure in generating areas isn't sufficient to deal with the new power?

I often wonder whether somewhere like China (where you can get away this kind of stuff more easily if you have the cash/influence) would ever give us a reasonable test bed for compulsory household level generation of wind and solar power.

Some of their infrastructure projects (like the new cities for anticipated residents and the like) would seem to be great possibilities for this.

I would think that wind and solar would be the worst possible candidates for generating all your household power, given that they can drop out at any time. At least on a national scale you can ensure that its windy somewhere, and put your equipment somewhere it is sunny/windy more reliably.

[mr friendly guy]

200GW by 2020 is pretty impressive. Is that assuming infrastructure increases though, as you imply that the current infrastructure in generating areas isn't sufficient to deal with the new power?

Its most probably in regards to installed capacity. However even if the aging infrastructure affected 50% (its actually less) it would still be quite a lot. IIRC from announcements they are aware of this problem. As I said, if they can afford to build billion dollar bridges, they could fix up this infrastructure. The question is a matter of organisation. As per the article on the US complaining to the WTO, its obvious China has put money into wind power. We could argue all day how much is because they cared about climate change vs pragmatism for other energy sources, or is it because they smell a business opportunity for green technology to sell to other countries *, but at the end of the day they have put their money where their mouth is and business is noticing.

The 200 GW is certainly higher than what I have previously seen. According to their own newsites, it was estimated at 120 - 150 GW by 2020.
Xinhua. Now the Xinhua article is a few months older than the one from the OP, so its possible the Chinese have revised their targets.

Since I am lazy I have just cut from wiki the list of China's wind power capacity over the years.



As you can see if they increase capacity by 16 GW each year (like the difference between 2009 to 2010) they will just reach the 200 GW target. The older target of 120-150 GW looked more doable, but lets wait and see.

I often wonder whether somewhere like China (where you can get away this kind of stuff more easily if you have the cash/influence) would ever give us a reasonable test bed for compulsory household level generation of wind and solar power.

They do require state power companies to give preference to wind generated energy. Over in my state of Western Australia I can ask them to use more green power. I assume that would cost me more. I don't since my solar panels on average produce more than I use daily anyway, at least in summer. **

If you are interested in solar in China, I suggest you google the city of Ri Zhao (literally the sun shines).

Some of their infrastructure projects (like the new cities for anticipated residents and the like) would seem to be great possibilities for this.

I have read about their wind, solar, further hydro, and seen geothermal attempts. However I think what would bear more fruit is when those nuclear power plants come online in numbers. Oh, the other thing is to become more energy efficient. Currently they are somewhat behind in terms of energy efficiency than developed nations. They need to improve that since their current energy use is greater than even the US.


* this view has been advocated by Webster Tarpley, who seems quite pro China and is also a climate change denier.

** not turning most lights on, and using energy efficient bulbs for those that you do turn on saves a lot of energy.

[bobalot]

What is pathetic is that China spends more than Australia per capita on renewable energy despite facing colossal economic and social issues.

[Sea Skimmer]

What is pathetic is that China spends more than Australia per capita on renewable energy despite facing colossal economic and social issues.

What do you think those economic and social issues are? Ones that don't require electrical power as part of the solutions? China desperately needs domestic sources of power just like the US does; Australia has enough coal to meet its own needs for centuries upon centuries. So of course China will spent more, it matters far more. Heck a lot of Chinese power comes from importing Australian coal in the first place! The last couple winters China's demand for coal has outstripped the ability of anyone to load it onto the ships.

[weemadando]

What is pathetic is that China spends more than Australia per capita on renewable energy despite facing colossal economic and social issues.

Shut up hippie!

Dontcha know that renewable energy is totally not a viable model when you have an economy based around exporting coal, where the coal lobby contributes obscene amounts of dosh to the political process?

[Master of Ossus]

What do you think those economic and social issues are? Ones that don't require electrical power as part of the solutions? China desperately needs domestic sources of power just like the US does; Australia has enough coal to meet its own needs for centuries upon centuries. So of course China will spent more, it matters far more. Heck a lot of Chinese power comes from importing Australian coal in the first place! The last couple winters China's demand for coal has outstripped the ability of anyone to load it onto the ships.

That's kind of an exaggeration. China has... what? 15% of the world's total proven reserves of coal? It's not like they don't ALSO have a ton of the stuff buried away. Australia and the US... maybe a few other countries have more coal even than China, but it's not accurate to attribute China's investment in renewable energy as solely a function of a lack of domestic coal reserves.

[Sea Skimmer]

That's kind of an exaggeration. China has... what? 15% of the world's total proven reserves of coal? It's not like they don't ALSO have a ton of the stuff buried away. Australia and the US... maybe a few other countries have more coal even than China, but it's not accurate to attribute China's investment in renewable energy as solely a function of a lack of domestic coal reserves.

I said domestic sources of energy, then used coal as a prime example, and this is all accurate. China does not have enough domestic, and as it is currently 75% powered by coal, importing more coal has become a major dependence because its the only quick way they can make up the shortfalls. China in case you forget has over 20% of the worlds population and is the worlds largest energy user with use having outright doubled in the last ten years. 15% of proven coal reserves doesn't mean much on its own anyway, because some coal is right on the surface while other seams can be over a thousand feet deep and very hard to extract. Its a simple fact that China has had huge coal shortages in the last winters. Its not just mining it, its transporting it over the heavily taxed Chinese rail and river system. In many cases the export of coal from north to south China was held up completely by the speed of the machines that loaded it, meaning coal loaded overseas was the only way to bypass this bottleneck. Apparently unloading wasn't as serious a problem. Anyway of course they have more reasons then just coal, but coal no longer being a cheap easy option is a huge fucking part of it.

[mr friendly guy]

What is pathetic is that China spends more than Australia per capita on renewable energy despite facing colossal economic and social issues.

What do you think those economic and social issues are? Ones that don't require electrical power as part of the solutions? China desperately needs domestic sources of power just like the US does; Australia has enough coal to meet its own needs for centuries upon centuries. So of course China will spent more, it matters far more. Heck a lot of Chinese power comes from importing Australian coal in the first place! The last couple winters China's demand for coal has outstripped the ability of anyone to load it onto the ships.

Isn't the conventional wisdom that countries pollute first then clean up when they become more developed? Obviously its a simplified model however China is a developing country while we are a developed one. Their GDP / capita even when adjusted for PPP is around a fifth of ours. We should be able to match them per capita and if what bobalot says is true, we don't.

We might not be as desperate for energy as they are, but environmental issues have featured prominently in Australian politics including a proposal which was defeated for a carbon tax. IIRC a lot of Australians support these measures, so its not like we also don't have the collective will to do things.

[Pelranius]

That's kind of an exaggeration. China has... what? 15% of the world's total proven reserves of coal? It's not like they don't ALSO have a ton of the stuff buried away. Australia and the US... maybe a few other countries have more coal even than China, but it's not accurate to attribute China's investment in renewable energy as solely a function of a lack of domestic coal reserves.

I said domestic sources of energy, then used coal as a prime example, and this is all accurate. China does not have enough domestic, and as it is currently 75% powered by coal, importing more coal has become a major dependence because its the only quick way they can make up the shortfalls. China in case you forget has over 20% of the worlds population and is the worlds largest energy user with use having outright doubled in the last ten years. 15% of proven coal reserves doesn't mean much on its own anyway, because some coal is right on the surface while other seams can be over a thousand feet deep and very hard to extract. Its a simple fact that China has had huge coal shortages in the last winters. Its not just mining it, its transporting it over the heavily taxed Chinese rail and river system. In many cases the export of coal from north to south China was held up completely by the speed of the machines that loaded it, meaning coal loaded overseas was the only way to bypass this bottleneck. Apparently unloading wasn't as serious a problem. Anyway of course they have more reasons then just coal, but coal no longer being a cheap easy option is a huge fucking part of it.

On top of what Seaskimmer said, it often becomes a lot more expensive to get commodities from the western part of China (like coal, iron ore, copper) than it is to import, because places like Australia and Chile already have the infrastructure and business model in place while you're starting from nothing if you're mining in the mountains of Tibet.

[mr friendly guy]

Well I finally come across a western news source that has also picked up the news.

linky

Interesting to note it describes the US wind industry as going through a boom-bust cycle due to lack of predictability of government policy. Case in point it experienced more growth when there was short lived government subsidies. Like I said earlier, the US should just try and support their renewable energy industries if they are worried about competing with China's equivalent industry.