China Now World Leader in Wind and Hydro

October 28th, 2011 by Susan Kraemer

With 42.3 GW of wind power installed, China has now become the new world leader in wind power, having overtaken the US, with 40.2 GW, which itself bypassed the longtime world leader Germany in 2008.

After four years of doubling its installed wind power capacity annually between 2006 and 2009, China added a record 16.5 GW in 2010. According to a detailed report(pdf) from the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, nearly 20% of all net additional power generation capacity in China is now wind power, nearly on par with its hydro. China now leads the world in large-scale hydropower with 21% of global production.

Hydropower output increased by 5.3% in 2010 with China accounting for more than half of the growth, due to an increase in capacity and favourable (wet) weather in 2010. As the climate heats up causing wilder wetter storms, hydropower could supply more energy in regions that are due for increased precipitation under a warming scenario, such as the Pacific Northwest, which has recently had to shut down other sources as storms so much increased hydropower production.

US wind installations dropped to half the rate of 2009, when the Obama administration Recovery Act provided a onetime boost. With the return of a much more fossil-friendly House, policies that help grow renewable power have been halted once again. September 30th saw the last of the DOE’s successful loan guarantee program, as Republicans, who dispute scientists on climate change, and have no problem with pollution, oppose supporting renewable energy.

But the rest of the world made up the difference. The European Union nations as a whole installed an additional 9.3 GW of wind in 2010, bringing their total to 84.1 GW. This should, in a normal wind year, produce 5.3% of overall EU electricity consumption according to GWEC (2011).

Worldwide wind power capacity grew 22.5% in 2010 with 35.5 GW installed, bringing the new world total to 194.4 GW, with nearly half of the new installations in China, and most in the developing world.

So, what did it cost China and the world to add 35.5 GW of wind capacity in 2010? About $65 billion. Total world wind capacity is now 194.4 GW, according to the report.

Susan Kraemer@Twitter
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Tags: China, Germany, hydro power, usa, world leader

About the Author

Susan Kraemer writes at CleanTechnica, CSP-Today, PV-Insider , SmartGridUpdate, and GreenProphet. She has also been published at Ecoseed, NRDC OnEarth, MatterNetwork, Celsius, EnergyNow, and Scientific American. As a former serial entrepreneur in product design, Susan brings an innovator's perspective on inventing a carbon-constrained civilization: If necessity is the mother of invention, solving climate change is the mother of all necessities! As a lover of history and sci-fi, she enjoys chronicling the strange future we are creating in these interesting times. Follow Susan on Twitter @dotcommodity.

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Temo945

China is doing that, I wonder what are they doing regarding gasoline, of course…….they will not advertize, they will just di it. India with Pap’s motors are enjoying their AIR CARS, are we going to do anything????? NO!!!
- Anonymous
  
  What China is doing about gasoline is beginning a very extensive program to bring EVs to their streets.
  
  They tried to introduce EVs a couple of years back and their efforts failed because they had little charging infrastructure. They are now building the needed infrastructure. They’re also giving very generous subsidies to EV purchasers (about $20,000 is I recall correctly). China has a waiting list for permits to drive in Beijing because the streets are so crowded. They’re letting EV owners jump the queue and get their permits first.
  
  China has several companies making EVs. BYD, one of the world’s largest battery manufacturer, has had a test fleet of their 200 mile range EV working as taxis. Several of their ‘e6′ EVs have now been driven over 100,000 miles, largely using rapid charge stations, and are showing no problems. That’s a lifetime of driving on the original battery and those batteries are still performing close to 100%.
  
  What we are doing is installing a lot of public charging infrastructure, building several EV battery plants, and manufacturing EVs. Ford will be releasing their first EV in a few months, the electric Focus. GM is adding an EV to their fleet, the Spark. Tesla is soon releasing their luxury sedan with options of 160, 220, and 300 mile range battery packs.
  
  (I didn’t know anyone was actually making air cars. I’ll have to check that out. For a while it looked like air cars would be a useful option, but then battery technology took off.)
  - Susan Kraemer
    
    I loved how to clean up pollution before the games – they literally were “taking cars off the road” (normally cited as just a measurement ie: “like taking X cars off the road”) and when factories exceeded their pollution limits they closed them down. Draconian – but necessity is the mother of change, and it can be done.
- Anonymous
  
  Googling “Pap air car” got me nothing. Do you have any links to info?
  
  Might you have meant Tata? They bought a lot of the air car technology a while back but I’m not aware of them manufacturing any air cars.
Temo945

I know they gould do something about it, here……..they continue to take vrives so we do not do it, or forget about it.