China’s Wind Energy Output Dropped In 2014

The electricity generated by China’s wind energy capacity fell by 5.2% in 2014, according to the country’s National Energy Administration.

The news, reported by Wind Power Monthly, states that the average uptime for projects of 6 MW and over across the country was 1,905 hours. The decline in generation came due to curtailments and weaker wind conditions throughout the northern provinces of Jilin and Gansu.

Specifically, the regions of Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, and Xinjiang were all reported to have performed well — with Xinjiang registering an average uptime of 2,094 hours, and Fujian, in southeast China, registering the highest uptime of 2,530 hours.

This news adds credence to the American Wind Energy Association’s views that America, rather than China, is in fact the premiere wind energy giant in the world.

Twice now, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) has published a blog post by James Walker, a member of the AWEA, about the competition between the US and China. Many automatically assume China to be world number one in wind energy, installing 20.7 GW of wind energy, compared to America’s 4.7 GW.

However, when talking about energy generated, the AWEA points out that the US is well ahead of China — 20%, to be exact; 167 billion kWh compared to 138 billion kWh.

While China’s total wind energy capacity sits at 96 GW, for whatever reason, it doesn’t appear to be doing the job it needs to be doing.