April 28, 2008

Fanning wind power capacity. China plans to expand wind power generating capacity by at least fivefold to 100,000 megawatts by 2020, an industry official said.

"The NDRC has just recently completed an internal meeting to discuss the possibility of increasing wind power capacity to 100,000MW," Shi Pengfei, vice president of Chinese Wind Energy Association said, referring to the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top industry planning body. "It's not 20,000MW or 30,000MW as previously targeted."

China aims to get 15 percent of its power consumption from renewable sources by 2020, though the majority of the capacity will be contributed by hydropower projects. "To meet this binding target, besides hydropower, wind has to play a major role as others like solar and bio-energy will only generate small amounts out of the total," Shi said at a wind equipment show in Shanghai last Friday.

China has 5,600MW of installed wind capacity at the end of last year, though nearly a quarter of them are not connected to grids, according to the electricity regulator and industry association. Distributors in China are not keen on wind power as they have to secure back-up energy during times when the wind is not strong enough, and wind power costs more than coal-fired electricity.

But Anil Kane, president of the World Wind Energy Association, said in terms of operating costs, which include fuel prices and maintenance, wind power is more competitive than other sources such as nuclear and solar.

It has been projected China's wind capacity could reach as high as 120,000MW, or equal to the capacity of five Three Gorges dams, by 2020 if the state reforms a subsidy system to give wind power larger premiums over coal.