Wind Power News: China
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They are the products of the organizations or individuals noted.
Blow to Brown as BP scraps British renewables plan to focus on US
BP has dropped all plans to build wind farms and other renewable schemes in Britain and is instead concentrating the bulk of its $8bn (£5bn) renewables spending programme on the US, where government incentives for clean energy projects can provide a convenient tax shelter for oil and gas revenues.
The decision is a major blow to the prime minister, Gordon Brown, who has promised to sweep away all impediments to ensure Britain is at the forefront of the green energy . . .
Pune billionaire chases GE with wind turning on cracked blades
The lights snap off in the five-story, gray-concrete building in Pune, India, where Suzlon Energy Ltd. — the fastest growing of the world’s top five wind turbine makers — has its headquarters. After 30 seconds of darkness, the fluorescent bulbs flicker on as backup generators kick in.
“For us, it’s routine,” says Tulsi Tanti, Suzlon’s billionaire founder. “You have to understand the country’s limitation and, within that, develop your business.”
Tanti, 50, made his fortune in a decade by supplying wind power . . .
Alternative energy: China taking the wind out of India’s sails
The more serious problem is in Maharashtra, where “local issues”, in the industry’s parlance, threaten to derail wind power development.
Comparisons, though inevitable, are odious. Especially if India and China are the players involved. It is quite common to hear Indian companies ruefully talk about the advantage that their counterparts in China enjoy, because of which Chinese manufacturers are able to plan capacities that are enormous and aggressively price their products and compete on a global level.
This advantage that China enjoys . . .
China wind power hits 5.6 GW
China’s wind power generating capacity surged to 5.6 gigawatts by the end of last year, but over a quarter of it is still not connected to the grid because of bad planning, an industry expert said on Wednesday. Shi Pengfei, vice-president of the Chinese wind energy association, said capacity growth in 2008 is likely to speed up, with another 4 GW expected to be added by the booming industry.
This will bring the total amount of turbines erected by the end . . .
Wind power could be booming for wrong reasons, expert warns
Wind power is booming on the mainland, but industry analysts fear an investment frenzy being driven by political factors rather than economic returns might undermine the green energy cause.
The mainland, the world’s biggest energy consumer after the United States, has seen rapid growth in wind power generation, with installed capacity increasing at an average rate of 46 per cent a year over the past 10 years, according to a report by the China Renewable Energy Industries Association, the Global Wind . . .
UK's SSE to offset CO2 in China wind farm deal
Britain’s Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) said on Monday it had struck a deal allowing it to offset its own CO2 emissions by buying the CO2 reduction from four Chinese wind farms.
The deal with a subsidiary of state-backed China Guodian Corporation will support the development of four 50 megawatt wind farms in northeast China, which are expected to displace around 2 million tonnes of CO2 from nearby coal-fired power stations.
Scottish & Southern will support the construction, which is already underway, . . .
UK's SSE to offset CO2 in China wind farm deal
Britain’s Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) said on Monday it had struck a deal allowing it to offset its own CO2 emissions by buying the CO2 reduction from four Chinese wind farms.
The deal with a subsidiary of state-backed China Guodian Corporation will support the development of four 50 megawatt wind farms in northeast China, which are expected to displace around 2 million tonnes of CO2 from nearby coal-fired power stations.
Scottish & Southern will support the construction, which is already underway, . . .
Energy companies make wind power a top investment
From Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to E.ON, the world’s largest companies are investing in wind power, the best-performing energy in the past year.
Led by Vestas Wind Systems and Iberdrola of Spain, utilities and governments in the United States, China and Europe will spend as much as $150 billion on wind projects in the next five years, according to CLSA Research. Lawmakers are providing financial incentives because windmills are non-polluting and cost less than solar projects.
“Wind has the biggest potential to meet . . .
China jumps into wind turbine business
Chinese firms are joining the technically complex industry of wind turbine manufacturing, creating a supply glut and causing quality problems that may temporarily complicate a push by Beijing toward cleaner energy, industry executives have said.
More than 30 Chinese firms now offer wind-power generating equipment, creating competition that should eventually push down global prices and turn Chinese firms into export powerhouses to match national solar and electronics champions.
But few of the new contenders have experience in the high-tech engineering of modern . . .
India and China catch the wind
Dilip Pantosh Patil uses an ox-drawn wooden plow to till the same land as his father, grandfather and great-grandfather. But now he has a new neighbor: a shiny white wind turbine taller than a 20-story building, generating electricity at the edge of his bean field.
Wind power may still have an image as something of a plaything of environmentalists more concerned with clean energy than saving money. But it is quickly emerging as a serious alternative not just in affluent areas . . .
