China takes lead in wind energy 

As China’s energy consumption grows, wind power has been identified as an important way for the country to ensure sufficient energy supply and at the same time to reduce its CO2 emissions.

In the coming years, China will build some of the world’s largest wind farm projects in its north and north-western regions where desert plains and wind dominate the landscape.

The size of each wind farm will be up to 400 MW and each wind farm will supply about 800,000 households with electricity. COWI, which has been commissioned by the Chinese to provide consultancy services for the projects, has become a global leader in wind energy consultancy after acquiring Tripod Wind Energy.

Søren Gjerding, COWI’s chief project manager, explains that local engineering firms lack the expertise needed for such complicated projects.

“Preparation for wind farms in China requires experience and knowhow and the Chinese design institutes which prepare feasibility studies lack specific experience, especially when it comes to wind measurements and evaluating wind resources,” explains Gjerding. “For that reason we contribute with knowhow in these areas."

Cleaner energy The assignment, which is financed by the Danish aid agency Danida, will be prepared for China Hydropower Engineering Consulting Group Corporation (CHECC) and involve three feasibility studies for large wind farms in the provinces of Jilin, Heilongjiang and Liaoning.

The wind farms’ establishment is part of China’s environmental strategy which focuses on producing cleaner energy. Another important part of the strategy is using surplus heat from power plants for district heating systems as a way to phase out inefficient, coal-fired boilers.

By the end of 2007, wind turbines with a total capacity of six GW had been installed in China. That meant that only the US, India, Germany and Spain surpassed China when it came to expanding the capacity of their wind energy sectors.

The construction of wind farms in China is now taking place so quickly that the 2010 goal of reaching five GW of capacity was already met in 2007. China is thus well on its way toward meeting its overall goal of securing 10 per cent of its energy from renewable energy by 2010.

Published: 18.09.2008
By Christine Tækker
cht@cowi.dk