IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 6
more online at http://www.spectrum.ieee.org
China Doubles Wind Watts
trumping rivals in wind energy despite dismal returns
c
hina is notorious for its
accelerating consumption
of coal, which will soon
push it past the United States as
a leading producer of greenhousegas emissions. But China is also
rapidly becoming a world leader
in wind power. Its fleet of wind
turbines more than doubled in generating capacity in 2007, surging
by over 3 gigawatts, according to
the Global Wind Energy Council.
That's less power capacity than
China's coal sector adds per week,
but it's enough to make China the
third-fastest-growing wind market worldwide (behind the United
States and Spain) and propel it
to fifth place in the Global Wind
Energy Council's annual capacwww.spectrum.ieee.org
ity rankings (ahead of even windenergy pioneer Denmark).
Sebastian Meyer, director of
research for Beijing consultancy
Azure International Technology
& Development, predicts that
China will add another 4 to
5 GW's worth of wind turbines
in 2008, thanks in part to new
standards announced late last
year that mandate a greater
reliance on renewable energy. If
Meyer is right, China will close
out 2008 with at least 10 GW of
installed wind capacity-twice the
country's target for 2010. Meyer
says that wind farms are going up
faster than China's grid operators
can connect them to regional
transmission lines. "Incredibly, up
to 2 GW of the capacity out there
at the end of 2007 was installed
but not yet commissioned," says
Meyer. He expects those wind
farms to be connected soon.
What's truly unbelievable
about China's dramatic investment
in wind power is its endurance in
the face of below-cost pricing. The
government's primary mechanism
for supporting the wind industry
has been the awarding of windpower concessions-agreements
whereby the government purchases set amounts of wind energy
from project developers. Bidding
for the wind concessions-totaling
2.45 GW so far-has yielded
an average price of 0.45 yuan
(about 6 U.S. cents) per kilowatthour. That's break-even at best,
according to industry experts.
Many Chinese wind projects stay
afloat by selling international
carbon credits generated under
winter
windmills:
A field of turbines
in inner mongolia
is one of many
new wind projects
sprouting up as
china enters its
second year of
multigigawatt
growth.
photo: China photos/
Getty imaGes
May 2008 * IEEE SpEctruM * Na
11
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum May, 2008
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - Cover1
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - Cover2
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 1
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 2
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 3
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 4
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 5
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 6
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 7
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 8
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 9
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 10
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 11
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 12
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 13
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 14
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 15
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 16
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 17
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 18
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 19
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 20
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 21
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 22
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 23
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 24
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 25
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 26
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 27
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 28
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 29
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 30
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 31
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 32
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 33
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 34
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 35
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 36
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 37
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 38
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 39
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 40
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - 41
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - Cover3
IEEE Spectrum May, 2008 - Cover4
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