Más de una docena de empresas fabrican aerogeneradores en China y varias docenas producen componentes eólicos. Los mayores fabricantes chinos son Goldwind, Dongfang y Sinovel.
Shu Yinbia, subdirector general de la firma estatal, señaló que la capacidad instalada de energía eólica que va a parar a la red eléctrica aumentó 101 por ciento interanual a finales de junio, en declaraciones recogidas por el diario "China Daily".
Shu recomendó una planificación del desarrollo de la energía eólica en todo el país asiático, uno de los que mayor cantidad de gases contaminantes emiten a la atmósfera, y formular unos estándares técnicos nacionales para las energías renovables que incluyan la eólica y la solar.
El sector de la energía eólica se ha desarrollado en China en los últimos años gracias a las políticas de apoyo del gobierno, con una capacidad instalada de 12.000 megavatios a finales de 2008, lo que situaría al país asiático en el cuarto en el sector por detrás de Estados Unidos, Alemania y España.
La Comisión Nacional de Desarrollo y Reforma anunció que las tarifas en red se han establecido entre 0,075 y 0,09 dólares por kilovatio-hora en 4 categorías de las regiones que producen energía eólica. Los precios son más altos que los que se establecen bajo el sistema de oferta pública, que oscilan entre los 0,055 y los 0,073 dólares por kilovatio-hora.
La Asociación de Energía Eólica prevé que China tendrá una capacidad instalada de entre 108 y 132 gigavatios eólicos antes del 2020, con lo que se convertiría en uno de los países líderes en esta energía renovable.
Más del 70 por ciento de la energía que consume China proviene todavía del carbón (40 puntos por encima de la media mundial), un combustible altamente contaminante, por lo que el gobierno se ha propuesto desde el año 2006 incrementar el uso de energías no fósiles (nuclear, solar y eólica).
Según datos del gobierno chino, en 2006 las energías no fósiles suponían el 7 por ciento del total del consumo, y de acuerdo a los objetivos marcados tendrán que alcanzar el 15 por ciento en 2020.
China, segundo país consumidor de energía y emisor contaminante después de EE UU, aumentó en febrero su objetivo de energía nuclear en el 2020 hasta el 5 por ciento, desde el 4 por ciento inicial y frente al 2 por ciento del 2006. Siin embargo, grupos ecologistas como Greenpeace han instado a China en los últimos años a evitar el recurso a la nuclear y afianzar energías no contaminantes como la eólica y la solar.
En un capítulo paralelo, el consumo de energía por unidad de Producto Interior Bruto (PIB) bajó 3,35 por ciento interanual en el primer semestre del año, según datos publicados por el principal órgano económico del país, la Comisión Nacional de Reforma y Desarrollo de China. La caída es superior al 2,88 por ciento registrada en la primera mitad de 2008.
La Comisión anunció que espera que las emisiones de dióxido de azufre se reduzcan en 5 por ciento en el primer semestre de este año, y que la Demanda Química de Oxígeno (DQO, cantidad de materia orgánica susceptible de ser oxidada por químicos en un líquido) se reduzca el 2 por ciento.
En el 2006, China lanzó una campaña para mejorar la eficiencia energética y reducir el consumo de energía por cada 10.000 yuanes de PIB (1.470 dólares) en un 20 por ciento, y las principales emisiones contaminantes en 10 un por ciento antes del 2010, en relación con los niveles del 2005.
China va camino de convertirse en una gran potencia eólica, y para ello basta contemplar la evolución de la potencia eólica instalada:
Año 2000: apenas 346 MW.
2001: 402 MW.
2002: 469 MW.
2003: 567 MW.
2004: 764 MW
2005: 1.260 MW.
2006: 2.604 MW.
2007: 5.912 MW.
2008: 12.210 MW
2009: 25.000 MW (previsto).
2010: 30.000 MW (previsto)
2020: 150.000 MW (previsto)
Numeros empresas internacionales tienen fábricas en China, como la danesa Vestas o Siemens, o las españolas Gamesa y Acciona, pero también hay potentes empresas nacionales, como Goldwind de la provincia de Xinjiang. China tiene un enorme potencial eólico. El proteccionismo dificulta la implantación de empresas extranjeras, incluidas las españolas Gamesa y Acciona.
China implantó la Ley de Energías Renovables en el año 2006 como parte del plan para mejorar sus registros medioambientales. Lo que más necesita en estos momentos es la tecnología para hacer efectiva su determinación de construir un modelo económico limpio y ecológico.
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China’s installed wind power capacity doubles in H1
China’s installed wind power capacity that transmits power into the national electricity grid rose 11.81 million kW in the first half of this year, doubling the figure of a year earlier, an industry expert told Xinhua over the weekend.
Shu Yinbiao, vice general manager of the State Grid Corporation, said the installed wind power capacity soared 101 percent year on year by the end of June, showing the country’s strengthened efforts on using renewable energy.
Shu suggested mapping out a long-term wind power development plan for the whole country and formulating relevant national technical standards for new energy including wind and solar power to regulate their development.
China’s wind power sector gained momentum in recent years due to the government’s supportive policies. Figures showed that the country’s installed wind power capacity reached 12 million kW by the end of 2008, ranking the fourth globally trailing the United States, Germany and Spain.
China’s renewable energy installed capacity is predicted to reach 290 million kilowatts by 2020, accounting for 17% of the total, China State Grid Corporation announced at the Renewable Energy Development Conference on July 30, 2009.
Moreover, the company estimated that the nation would have a nuclear power installed capacity of 86 million kilowatts, a wind power installed capacity of 150 million kilowatts, a solar energy installed capacity of 20 million kilowatts, and a biomass power installed capacity of 30 million kilowatts then.
In the nation’s previous renewable energy development planning, the total solar energy generation capacity was scheduled to reach 300,000 kilowatts by 2010 and 1.87 million kilowatts by 2020; and the total wind energy installed capacity 5 million kilowatts by 2010, and 30 million kilowatts by 2020.
As of the end of 2008, the nation’s renewable energy generation installed capacity had got to 21 million kilowatts, making up 3% of the total, Shu Yinbiao, general manager of China State Grid said.
The total investment will be more than CNY 3 trillion at least, an official close to the nation’s Energy Bureau revealed.
For grid-connected land-based wind power, feed-in tariff rates are 0.51, 0.54, 0.58 and 0.61 yuan per KW/hour depending on availability of wind energy resources and engineering costs.
China builds wind energy observation network
China has established a national network to observe wind power, the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said Monday.
The newly-operational network consists of 400 anemometer towers, ranging in height from 70 meters to 120 meters, CMA deputy director Jiao Meiyan said.
It was essential to ascertain the wind’s strength in various places before development to harness its power, he said. The location of a power station should be based on exploitable capacity of the wind there.
The CMA started a national survey of wind energy resources in 2007.
Moves to exploit wind power have increased momentum in recent years because of China’s supportive government policies. At the end of 2008, generation of electricity from wind-powered turbines in China reached 12.17 million kilowatts, ranking fourth globally behind the United States, France and Spain.
China plans to build seven wind power stations with a minimum capacity of 10 gigawatts (GW) each by 2020, in moves to boost greatly the use of clean energy.
When completed, the stations will have a combined capacity of approximately 120 GW, while China’s total projected power capacity will be about 1,500 GW.
Chinese Wind Power Industry Has Received the Policy Support from Chinese Government
The support policies will greatly promote the development of Chinese wind power industry. The regulation of the benchmark electricity price will stimulate significantly the enthusiasm of investors of wind power farms and operator electricity network companies.
On July 20th of 2009, China Development and Reform Commission published the Notice on Wind Power on the Pricing Policy. It stipulates that the whole country will be divided into four categories of wind power resource areas according to the situation of wind power resources and engineering construction conditions, and then the corresponding wind power electricity price benchmark will be fixed.
Since August 1st of 2009, the wind power electricity price benchmark in Chinese four resource areas will be 0.51 RMB (0.074 USD) Kw/h, 0.54 RMB (0.079 USD) Kw/h, 0.58 RMB (0.085 USD) Kw/h, and 0.61 RMB (0.089 USD) Kw/h separately. In the future, Chinese newly-constructed continental wind power projects will carry out uniformly the wind power on-grid electricity price benchmark in their own wind power resource areas.
The on-grid electricity price of the maritime wind power will be fixed separately according to the construction process in the future. It also stipulates that the apportion system of wind power charges will be carried out continuously. The part of the on-grid electricity price of wind power that is within the local on-grid electricity price of the fuel coal and desulfurization equipment benchmark is afforded by the local provincial electricity network.
The amount above the benchmark is solved by apportion of the extra electricity price of the renewable energy which is collected by the country. After the adjustment of the on-grid electricity price of the fuel coal and desulfurization equipment benchmark, the part that is afforded by the local electricity network in the on-grid electricity price of wind power will be accordingly adjusted.
At present, the investment for the construction of Chinese wind power farms is generally 8,000 RMB to 1,000 RMB per kilowatt. Based on the 30% of the self-owned capital investment and 1,800 utilization hours of equivalent full capacity, it can be calculated that the electricity cost of the wind power farm with 50,000 kilowatts is 0.43 RMB to 0.53 RMB Kw/h, which is lower than the benchmark electricity price that was issued by China Development and Reform Commission.
If considering the rich wind power resources in Hebei and Inner Mongolia, the utilization hours of equivalent full capacity can reach 2,500 hours and the electricity cost can be reduced to 0.32 RMB. Plus the CDM revenue of about 0.1 RMB per Kw/h in the wind power farm, the profitability of Chinese wind power farms is already on a high level.
For those investors, the benchmark electricity price method is conductive to regulate the mechanisms of market and price. With no vicious competition of low electricity prices, it is beneficial for the investors. In the five sessions of bids for wind power concession in China from 2003 to 2007, the on-grid electricity price has been an important judgment standard.
Though the proportion of the on-grid electricity price has been reduced from the lowest electricity price as the bid price in the first two sessions to only 25% of the bid price in the fourth and fifth sessions, the vicious competitions on the on-grid electricity price among bidders still emerged. After the regulation of the benchmark electricity price this time, the localization schemes of wind power equipment of bidders, technical schemes, financing capacities and financial schemes for projects of bidders will be the determine factors, which is more conductive to the regulation of the market and the healthy development of the wind power industry.
For wind power equipment dealers, based on the fixed revenues of investors, controlling the investment costs will be the key factor to improve the profits. The competition on the price and quality of products among equipment dealers will become fiercer. The equipment investment accounts for 60% of the total investment of the wind power farms. Therefore, the cost control will be mainly focused on the controls of equipment purchase costs and maintenance costs in the future, which will put up higher demands for the quality and price of the products of equipment dealers.
It will also promote the healthy and continuous development of the wind power industry. For equipment dealers, on one hand, the stimulation of the enthusiasm of investors can better promote the increase of the industry and enhance the equipment demands. On the other hand, the fiercer competition will reconstruct the industry and is conductive to the industry in the long term.
www2.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-08/03/content_8508699.htm
