At the end of 2008,wind power in China accounted for 12.2 gigawatts (GW) of electricity generating capacity and China has identified wind power as a key growth component of the country's economy.[1] China is the fourth largest producer of wind power,after the United States,Germany,and Spain.[2] With its large land mass and long coastline,China has exceptional wind resources.[3]
Researchers from Harvard and Tsinghua University have found that China could meet all of their electricity demands from wind power through 2030.[4]
By the end of 2008,at least 15 Chinese companies were commercially producing wind turbines and several dozen more were producing components.[5] Turbine sizes of 1.5 MW to 3 MW became common.Leading wind power companies were Goldwind,Dongfang,and Sinovel.[6] China also increased production of small-scale wind turbines to about 80,000 turbines (80 MW) in 2008.Through all these developments,the Chinese wind industry appeared unaffected by the global financial crisis,according to industry observers.[6]
The initial future target set by the Chinese government was 10 GW by 2010,[7] but estimates suggest that by 2010 the total installed capacity for wind power generation in China will reach 20 GW.[2].Some more optimistic estimates put the figure at 25 GW by 2010.China installed 10 GW of wind power in 2009 taking the total to 22.5 GW by end of 2009.It is highly likely that China may reach total installed capacity of 30 GW by 2010.China aims to have 100 gigawatts of wind power capacity by 2020.[8]
In 2009,China became the third largest wind energy provider worldwide (behind USA and Germany),with the installed wind power capacity reaching 20 GW at the end of 2009.According to the Global Wind Energy Council,the development of wind energy in China,in terms of scale and rhythm,is absolutely unparalleled in the world.The National People's Congress permanent committee passed a law that requires the Chinese energy companies to purchase all the electricity produced by the renewable energy sector.[9]