Wind Energy Planning

China is set to become the biggest growth market for wind energy development, according to a report in China Daily today. A support plan to deliver this ambition is currently being drawn up by the Chinese government.

China is currently behind the United States, Germany and Spain in the installed wind energy capacity stakes with 12 gigawatts (GW) of wind energy. 18 months ago the Chinese government set a target of 30 GW – however this has reportedly now been increased to circa 100 GW by 2020 with an annual growth rate of 20%. Further development of wind energy is expected to help meet a target of providing 40% of energy requirements from renewable energy sources. This would take China to the position of global wind energy leader.

A previous China Daily report said that there will be more installed wind energy capacity than nuclear and solar. The target for nuclear power is currently 70 GW. Vestas wind turbine manufacturer CEO, Ditlev Engel said in an interview last month that there were 35 new Chinese wind turbine manufacturers entering the market last year.

Fang Junshi, representative from the National Energy Administration said “It’s very likely that China will be able to achieve the goal of reducing energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent by the end of the eleventh five-year plan (in 2010)“.

Compare these figures with the 3 GW currently installed in the UK and the low consenting rate leading to only 180 MW granted permission so far this year (according to British Wind Energy Association web site) and it looks as if the UK is set to fall seriously behind in the wind energy stakes, despite being the windiest country in Europe. It is no surprise therefore that Vestas decided to lay off some if its staff from the blade manufacturing plant on the Isle of White last week.