WIND ENERGY IN CHINA: CURRENT STATUS, FUTURE PROSPECTS

He Dexin
Chinese Wind Energy Association

ABSTRACT
Some key factors become emphases of China, such as
adjustment of energy structure, reduction of greenhouse gas,
decrease of environment pollution, and enhancement of
energy security. Wind power generation is one of the power
generation methods with mature technology and bright
future both in scale and commerce. From the beginning of
the 21st century, especially since the Renewable Energy
Law of China passed in 2005, wind energy utilization in
China moves forward rapidly. Yet some factors restricting
the advancement still need to be solved. The paper makes a
brief introduction to the wind energy resource, current
status and future prospects of wind energy in China.

1. INTRODUCTION
China is a developing country, and it is very important
during her modernization process to keep the harmony
between economy, energy and environment. China is not
only a big energy producer, but also a major energy
consumer. Currently there are four main problems
concerning energy in China: a low per capita level of
consuming energy, environment pollution, low efficiency of
using energy, and small proportion of renewable energy.
Therefore some key factors become emphases of the nation,
such as adjustment of energy structure, reduction of
greenhouse gas, decrease of environment pollution, and
enhancement of energy security. Furthermore, there is a
nationwide attention of exploitation of wind energy, which

is a kind of clean and inexhaustible energy. Wind power

generation is the major means of using wind energy as well
as one of the power generation methods with mature
technology and bright future both in scale and commerce.
Wind energy utilization in China began from 1970s, and
both of the industry and technology of wind energy
developed in the same period. After several national
five-year plans, unit capacity grew from hectowatt class
wind turbine to megawatt class unit. From the mid 1990s,
the Chinese government constituted a series of policies to
promote wind energy utilization. As a result, wind power
industry and the construction of wind farm developed at a
high speed, which accelerated the technology development.
From the beginning of the 21st century, especially since the
Renewable Energy Law of China passed in 2005, wind
energy utilization in China moves forward rapidly. Yet
some factors restricting the advancement still need to be
solved.

2. THE ASSESSMENT OF WIND ENERGY RESOURCE

IN CHINA
China has a large area with long coastline, so the wind
energy resource is abundant with great potential to be
exploited. From the 1970s, three nationwide surveys of
onland wind energy resource have been carried out by
Chinese Meteorological Administration (CMA). The third
survey is based on the observational data by 2384

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meteorological stations from 2003 to 2007 at 10 meters

height. The total reserves of wind energy resource at 10m
height in China are 4300 million kW, and the technical
potential is 300 million kW which is almost the same as the
second survey. The surveys are based on the statistic and
analysis methods which have limitations because
distribution of the stations is not uniform, the environment
around the station is changed in different years and the
height of the observation is must at 10m. In recent years,
CMA used the numerical simulation to evaluate the wind
energy resource and identified the wind energy resource
map with the 5kmh5km horizontal resolution for China.
The simulated results are well coherent with surveyed
results and the average relative error is 12%; it is also
coherent with the results of wind energy resources in China
investigated by UNEP. Now the evaluation of offshore
wind energy resource is undertaking in China.
Chinas wind energy resources are well distributed
throughout the country. About 20% areas of our country are
abundant in wind energy resource, they are mainly in two
wind belts, first is the east coastal area and island of our
country; second is the northwest north part of North China,
and Northeast of China. In addition, wind energy is
abundant in some regions in Central China. In China wind
energy resource is affected by the geographical locations,
seasons, topography and so on, for example: the wind in
north part of China is more severe than in south; affected
by Siberian anticyclone in winter and spring, the wind is
more severe than in summer and autumn. In addition, the
special climatic condition such as typhoon, low temperature,
lightning strike and sandstorm restricts the wind energy
utilization.

3. THE CURRENT STATUS OF WIND ENERGY UTILIZATION IN CHINA

3.1

Chinese Government Pays Much Attention to

Renewable Energy

Chinese government pays much attention to the

development of renewable energy, representing in the
following aspects:
(1) The Renewable Energy Law of China passed on
February 28, 2005 identified the significant role of

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renewable energy in the national energy strategy. In the

renewable energy law, there are five important systems:
system for objective measures, grid connected power
generation, price management, cost amortization and
special funds. These systems made a legal foundation for
the long-term and steady development of renewable energy
in our country. And in January 2006, after the
implementation of Renewable Energy Law of China, the
Chinese government also establishes a set of relevant
policies and laws.
(2) In 2007, The Mid and Long-term Development Plan for
Renewable Energy made by the government pointed out
that the renewable energy will take 16% share in Chinas
projected energy consumption in 2020.
(3) In recent years, Chinese government has increase the
input on renewable energy including wind energy
development year by year.
3.2 Large-scale Development of Wind Energy Industry
Recently, along with the establishment of wind power
market, the wind power industry has stepped into a fast
development stage and has some place in equipment
manufacturing, representing in the following aspects:
(1) There are more than 30 companies entering the field of
wind turbine generator system manufacturing. Most of
them bought producing license from foreign companies.
Some did joint research and development, while some did
themselves. Until now, 600kW and 750kW wind turbines
generator systems have been put into mass production.
Therefore in 2006, the installation capacity of wind turbine
generator system produced by domestic enterprises was
550 MW, which accounted for 41.2% of the total new
installation capacity in that year, The Goldwind Science
and Technology Co., Ltd. is ranked among the top ten wind
energy enterprises in the world.
(2) Some well-known foreign wind power companies based
on economic power and advanced technology entered the
market in China. Companied such as Vestas, Suzlon,
Gamesa, Nordex, GE, LM have established factories and
research centers in China. Some other companies entered
by joint venture, such as EHN. The competition in wind
power market is very fierce.

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(3) Along with the development of wind power industry,

the important component manufacturing also has a great
progress. Until now, blade, hub, base, gearbox, generator,
control system, tower and some other parts can be made by
domestic enterprises. Furthermore, some components are
exported and some are used to match the foreign wind
turbine generator systems in Chinese wind farms. More
than 70% parts of foreign wind turbine generator systems
installed in China were made domestically. In addition,
some Chinese companies have merged foreign companies,
and they established research centers abroad. Wind power
in China entered the period of internationalization.
3.3 Great Progress in Wind Energy Technology
Along with the development of wind power industry and
requirement of wind power market, a great progress in
wind power technology has been made in resent years,
representing in the following aspects:
(1) Recently, the off-grid wind power technology has run to
mature. 200W, 300W, and 500W wind turbine generator
systems occupy 67.61% of total production in 2006. Except
the independent wind turbine generator system including
battery, inverter, and controller, there have been wind-solar
hybrid system and wind-diesel hybrid system. Off-grid
wind power is mainly used in living-power for farmer, herd
and fisher. In recent years, there has been application in
street lamp, road signal detecting and traffic management
on the sea and so on. Besides that, performance of wind
turbine generator system is improved gradually, by using
advanced airfoil to improve power coefficiency, and using
magnetic suspension bearing to reduce the starting wind
speed, and using electromagnetic brake control to prevent
over-speed.
(2) At present, based on the R&D of 600kW and 750kW
wind turbines generator systems, and through absorption
and digestion of technical transfer, now megawatt class
wind turbine generator systems including variable speed
constant frequency doubly fed type and variable speed
constant frequency direct driven type have been made out
and put into trial operation. Moreover, China has designed
and manufactured blade, gearbox, generator, converter
control system and some other important components.
(3) At present, wind farm planning and construction are

made by domestic design institute, consultation companies,

construction companies and installation companies. The
largest wind farm under construction has a capacity of
300MW. In order to ensure the high quality of
transmission wind energy resource is surveyed and
evaluated before construction, also, the numerical method
is adopted to simulate the interaction between wind farm
and electricity grid to get corresponding solutions.
At present, the capacity of the completed wind farms is
relatively small, but with the development of wind farms,
the co-adaptability between the wind farm and electricity
grid must be noticed. In order to strengthen the adjustment
and management of wind energy, the research on short term
forecasting has started.
(4) In order to improve the performance, ensure a high
quality of wind turbine generator system, standardize the
wind power market, and promote the healthy development
of wind power, recently, the Chinese government pay much
attention to constructing the public technology service
platform for wind power, including compiling national
standards for wind power, establishing certification
institution and constructing test platforms.
(5) In order to promote wind power technology progress
and lay a solid foundation for wind power industry, the
Chinese government has increased the investments of basic
research of wind energy utilization by various means:
constructing evaluating system of wind energy resource,
establishing the non-linear model of large wind turbines
generator systems, developing wind turbine generator
system design software platform, analyzing the reliability
of wind turbines generator systems under extreme climatic
condition (such as typhoon, low temperature, lightning
strike, etc.), researching on offshore wind farm and
diversified application of wind power.
3.4 The Standardization of Wind Power Market
The National Development and Reform Commission
(NDRC) wind concession program has been an important
policy tool for mobilizing large-scale wind investments and
pushing down project costs. From 2003 to 2007, four
public bidding for concessionary has been held. In eleven
projects public bidding has been invited, with the size of
total installation capacity of 1650 MW. From the year 2006,

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the projects under 50 MW can be approved by local

government, while the projects above 50 MW are still
approved by the NDRC.
Some Chinese power corporations and investment
companies have devoted themselves into the development
of wind farms. Up to the end of 2006, 91 wind farms have
been constructed in the main land with a total installed
capacity of 2599 MW, in which the increment of the
installed capacity in 2006 was 1337 MW. Compared with
that of 2005, the increase of new installed capacity is 166%
and the increase of total installed capacity is 105%.
3.5 The Diversified Utilization of Wind Energy
According to the current status of China, besides wind
power generation, wind energy is also used in
water-pumping. Both grid-connected and off-grid
generation is developed. At present, there are still a lot of
families without electricity in remote rural areas. The main
solution is developing small scale off-grid wind turbine
generator systems and wind/solar hybrid systems. With the
improvement of living condition in farming and pasturing
areas and the requirement of socialist rural reconstruction,
the distributed power generator systems taking renewable
energy as the main part have received attention, and hybrid
systems combined with traditional energy and projects of
wind energy directly used in industry are beginning with
the primary work.

4. THE FUTURE PROSPECTS OF WIND ENERGY

DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA
4.1 National Target
(1) Before 2010, with national support and market force,
three key barriers in wind energy development will be
solved, including wind resource assessment, electricity grid
construction and independent innovation. China will
implement the strategy of steady development, achieve the
goal of 500kW total installation capacity ahead of schedule,
and thus set up a solid foundation for the scale-up and
commercialization of wind power industry in the future.
(2) During 2010-2020, the task is to establish mature and

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perfect technical, industrial and service systems with

independent intellectual property rights for wind energy
development, master the technology for design,
manufacture and evaluation of MW class wind turbine
generator systems and reach the goal of a total installed
capacity of 30,000 MW by 2020, striving for 50,000 MW.
At that time, the cost of wind power will be approximately
equal to that by traditional energy, and wind power will
have a stake in power supply structure.
(3) From 2020-2030, the effect of wind power on national
economic and social development will be increasingly
strengthened, while meeting the demand of domestic
market striving for international market entry. Up to 2030,
total installed capacity will reach 100,000 MW when wind
power will become an important clean power supply and
applied to industry and some other areas.
(4) After 2030, wind power will gradually become one of
the pillars of energy supply. By the middle of this century,
energy supply will be diversified, both renewable energy
and fossil energy as the mainstay, which will build up the
foundation for fundamental change of energy structure.
4.2 Restricting Factors
(1) Deficiency of the Evaluation of Wind Energy Resource
The evaluation of wind energy resource is the basic of
establishing development program for wind energy and
electricity grid and also the development and management
of wind energy resource. Though there are three surveys on
wind energy resource, which promote the development of
wind energy. However, the distribution of wind energy
recourse could not totally meet the need of wind farms
construction. Therefore, on the present base, further wind
energy investment and evaluation are needed. Through the
surveys and numerical simulation, the reserve, technical
and economic exploitation of wind energy resource on the
height of 50m, 70m and 110m are gained, which offer a
scientific database for national wind energy development
plan.
Otherwise, the further survey of offshore wind energy
resource is needed, which will offer technical basis for
further development of offshore wind farms.

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(2) The System of Wind Energy Industry Has Not Been

Formed
Wind energy industry is a comprehensive system including
manufacturing, service, and consulting industry. In the
development of wind energy, it is very important to
construct a complete wind energy industry system. At
present, there is imbalance in the wind power industry as
slow development of component manufacturing which
could not meet the need of complete machine
manufacturing development.

adjustment of electricity price, government offer some

support on policy to the developers. The onto-grid
electricity prices of wind farms in our country have great
differences because of differences on sites conditions, scale
of construction, project cycles, pricing model and policy
support. Over-low onto-grid electricity price is a
disadvantage to the development of the wind energy
industry. Therefore, macro-control from the government is
needed no matter use the way of bidding or making
governmental guiding price.
(5) The Innovation Ability Is Still Weak

The quality of wind turbine generator systems with high

technology, will affect the reliability, availability and
running cost directly. Only to establish a reasonable wind
power industry system that the wind power manufacturing
will develop in balance.
In the whole industry chain, we should also cultivate and
construct service industry and offer the guarantee to the
scale-up development of wind energy industry.
(3) Electricity Grid Construction Is Not Adapt to the Wind
Power Development
Power supply is related closely with the construction of
electricity grid. How to harmonize the relationship between
power supply, electricity grid and user load is very
important for the programming, constructing and running a
power system. Especially the reformation of power system,
wind farms and electricity grid belongs to the different
enterprises so it is more important to harmonize the wind
farm and electricity grid. We should conclude the
development of wind power into power supply
programming as other traditional power supply, make out a
series technological regulations and managing measures to
bring the primary work of wind farm connecting system
into standardization and make out pertinence regulations to
ensure output electric power quality of wind farm and the
safe and steady operation of electricity grid.
(4) Wind Power Policy Needs Improvement
At present, the onto-grid electricity price concerns the
development of wind power industry. In the primary stage
of wind power industry, in order to encourage the
developers entering wind power market, through

We have not fully mast the general design technology of

MW class wind turbine generator systems and key
technology of important components, and we are lack of
wind power technology with autonomous intellectual
properties. Although we can use the global resource to
narrow down the gap and enhance the competition ability
of our country through technology import and international
cooperation, if to develop wind energy in large scale, we
must promote the innovation ability; establish the technical
innovation system which takes enterprise as the main body
and combined with industry, college and institute; develop
wind power equipments with autonomous intellectual
properties to keep a healthy and sound development of
wind energy in our country.
(6) The Public Technical Service System Is Not Established
To establish a national public technical service system is
propitious to integrate the technical resource in the country
and do basic and public technical research and service,
which can save resource, raising efficiency and promoting
the steady and speed development of wind energy. The
construction of wind energy public technical service system
includes the construction of national wind energy resource
evaluation center, national wind energy technical center,
national experimental wind farm, national public wind
turbine generator system experimental platform, national
wind power equipment testing center and certificating
center and national wind energy information center.
4.3 Guarantee Measures
In order to fulfill the goal of wine energy development in
China, the following guarantee measures is to be carried out

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(1) Legislation
After carrying out Renewable Energy Law of China,
Chinese government made out a series of policies and
regulations to promote the development of wind energy. It
is regulated in the management method of renewable
energy tariff and cost share: through levying the additional
renewable energy price from the users to get allowance,
collected by electricity grid enterprises and get settlement
between electricity grid enterprises in provincial level to
realize cost share through the country. Through the law of
renewable
energy
generation
management,
the
responsibility between electricity grid enterprises and
generating enterprises is specified. Electricity grid
enterprises should guarantee all the power from renewable
energy will be on grid and take responsibility of
construction and management of access system. Besides,
promote the development and utilization of wind power
with the combined policy of finance and tax, including
setting special fund for research, popularization and
application, and to offer preferential loan to developers and
manufacturers.
(2) Financing
In recent years, Chinese government has increased the
input of wind power development. NDRC and Ministry of
Finance have arranged set up special funds to support the
survey of wind energy, the large-scale construction of wind
power industry and public technical service system.
Ministry of Science and Technology has arrange set up the
special fund support in National High Technology Research
and Development Program of China (863 Program) and
State Basic Research Development Program of China (973
Program).
(3) Management
In order to make full use of the domestic resources to
develop wind energy, China now is thinking to establish an
institute to assist government with making plans, managing
projects and engineering projects invested by state and
coordinate work.
(4) Human Resource
At present, there are already plenty of people working in

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the field of wind energy. However, there is a lack of general

technical engineers, professional managers and senior
technicians, which affect the ability of innovation and
competition. Chinese government pays much attention to
cultivate talents on wind power and found renewable
energy schools in universities to train undergraduate
students and graduates students. Besides, according to the
needs of enterprises, varies kinds of short-term training
classes are held to make continuous education. The
international communication and cooperation is
strengthened and many candidates go abroad for further
education.

5. CONCLUSION
(1) Wind energy resource is abundant in China with great
potential of development. The Chinese government attaches
great priority to wind energy among various kinds of
renewable energy. In the short term, wind energy will
contribute to adjusting energy construction, and in the long
term, it will become a pillar of energy supply.
(2) Establishing an effective incentive policies, and making
proper tariff and cost-sharing system are the important
guarantee for promoting wind power industry and fostering
wind power market.
(3) Wind energy utilization is a kind of complicated
systematic engineering concerning policy, law, technology,
economy, society, environment and education, the
development of which relies on resource integration and
collaboration.
(4) Wind energy technology is a high and new technology.
The progress of wind energy technology is the basis of
steady and sound development of wind energy, so the input
of fund and cultivation of human resource should be
accelerated.
(5) The construction of wind farms should coordinate with
the construction of electricity grid, and necessary technical
specifications and management system should be made to
keep the harmony among wind farms, electricity grid, and
users loads and thus to push the development of wind
energy towards a road of standardization.

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Proceedings of ISES Solar World Congress 2007: Solar Energy and Human Settlement

(6) In view of Chinese current situation, the development

and utilization of wind energy should go towards diverse
directions, while laying stress on on-grid technology,
giving attention to off-grid technology as well as
distributed and hybrid generator systems.

energy needs to keep harmonious development with

traditional fossil energy and other renewable energy.

(7) The development of wind energy should be conducted

in the light of local conditions. In quite a long period, wind

This paper cites many writers references. Here I express

my gratitude to those authors.

ACKNOWEGEMENT