China Reaches 50 GW Of Connected Grid Wind Capacity; Expected To Top 140 GW By 2015

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

China advanced past 50 gigawatts (GW) of on-grid/connected wind power capacity in 2012, and this is expected to grow a further 40% by the end of 2013.

GTM Media Research and Azure International in their China Wind Market Quarterly for the fourth quarter of 2012 said the emerging market country is on target this year to add another 18 GW of installed grid connected wind capacity.

Windmills in China via WikiCommons
Windmills in China via WikiCommons (Some Rights Reserved)

Chip in a few dollars a month to help support independent cleantech coverage that helps to accelerate the cleantech revolution!

Some of the underlying strength seen in the Chinese wind market is due to recent government action to help solve some of the domestic wind industry concerns. This included revamping surcharge revenue and pre-appropriating funding this year.

“China’s wind industry retains its leadership position worldwide, whether looking at policy targets, overall installation numbers or innovation,” said co-author of the report Anders Hove.

“Fully understanding the world’s largest wind energy market requires an in-depth understanding of complex issues, and that’s why this report is timely. We need to understand the reasons for interconnection delays, develop an expectation for future curtailment, and look province by province at the cash flow issues created by slow disbursement of renewable energy surcharge funds,” he said.

Meanwhile, based on report projections, China will reach 140 GW of installed capacity by 2015, far exceeding expectations in 2011 of 100 GW.

 China Wind Market Quarterly: 4th Quarter 2012 via GTM Research
China Wind Market Quarterly: 4th Quarter 2012 via GTM Research

In 2012 alone, China had nearly 35% of new wind power installations, virtually neck and neck with the United States to take top the spot, according to the Global Wind Energy Council’s 2012 report.

To see just how fast China’s wind energy industry has grown so far this century, we can look back and see that China only had 5.9 GW of installed capacity in 2007. Meanwhile, by 2020, China is expected to have nearly 250 GW of installed capacity. That would represent over 42 times the 2007 installed capacity.

However, rapid growth for China’s wind sector should become more levelled out in the years to come, as the industry should see more linear growth, the report said.

Will China be able to keep up its strength and reach the 250 GW installed capacity mark by the end of the decade? It would not be surprising if that target is reached before the start of 2020. Maybe the only question left to ask is whether it will it happen sooner or later.

Main Source: Greentech Media


Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.

Latest CleanTechnica TV Video


Advertisement
 
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.

Adam Johnston

is expected to complete the Professional Development Certificate in Renewable Energy from the University of Toronto by December 2017. Adam recently completed his Social Media Certificate from Algonquin College Continuing & Online Learning. Adam also graduated from the University of Winnipeg with a three-year B.A. combined major in Economics and Rhetoric, Writing & Communications in 2011. Adam owns a part-time tax preparation business. He also recently started up Salay Consulting and Social Media services, a part-time business which provides cleantech writing, analysis, and social media services. His eventual goal is to be a cleantech policy analyst. You can follow him on Twitter @adamjohnstonwpg or check out his business www.salayconsultiing.com.

Adam Johnston has 305 posts and counting. See all posts by Adam Johnston