Chinese Installed Wind Capacity Reached 75 GW in 2012

China advanced their cumulative installed wind capacity by 21%, according to recent data released.

Climate Connect noted total Chinese wind capacity in 2012 had surpassed 75 GW, based on data from China’s Wind Energy Association.

New wind capacity installed in China last year reached 12.96 GW, thanks to 7,872 new wind turbines. That is a drop of 26.5% on a year over year basis.

There were several ajor new installations in China last year, including Shandong (1.129 GW), Inner Mongolia (1.119 GW), Gansu (1.07 GW), and Yunnan (1.032 GW).

Meanwhile, major Chinese cities saw limited to little gains in wind capacity. Shanghai only installed 34 MW of new wind capacity, while Beijing and Hong Kong had no new wind capacity.

On the flip side, Chinese offshore wind capacity had some solid gains last year. A total of 127 MW of new offshore wind was installed, providing some underlying support to boost overall offshore wind to 389.60 MW.

In terms of new wind capacity, China’s Wind Energy Association new numbers are off from other estimates, including Bloomberg who said the country installed 15.9 GW onshore capacity. The numbers show an interesting picture where new wind investments were last year. It is quite surprising that major Chinese hubs produced very little new wind capacity while rural areas like Inner Mongolia led the way.

As for Chinese offshore wind, there could be some potential to grow that specific sector. After all, 127 MW of new offshore wind capacity was installed in 2012, a big increase of nearly 32%.

China is predicted to reach 250 GW of installed wind capacity by 2020, almost 3.3 times the capacity now seen, and 42 times more than 2007. If China leverages rural wind potential, offshore, and boosts new wind installations in major Chinese cities, 250 GW of installed wind capacity in China should be easily reached.