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 and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch.
SERC inspecting wind farms after disconnections
BEIJING – The State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) will conduct nationwide inspections this month of wind power facilities after a series of large-scale disconnections that threatened the stability of the power grid. SERC said on Wednesday that the inspections, which will run all month, will include wind farm safety management, operations, grid connections and the actual wind turbines. The move follows four massive incidents in Jiuquan, Gansu province, one of the most important wind power bases in China, in which . . .
China agrees to halt subsidies to wind power firms
China has agreed to stop subsidizing wind power companies that use home-made parts rather than imports, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative’s office confirmed late on Monday. The decision is a victory for the United Steelworkers union, which last year urged President Barack Obama’s administration to challenge a swath of Chinese clean energy measures that it said violated World Trade Organization rules. China’s ministry of commerce could not be reached for comment. USA Today, quoting U.S. Trade Representative Ron . . .
Chill wind blowing for turbine industry
Wind turbine manufacturers are feeling the industry performance pinch for the first time after five years of good times in China, the world’s fastest-growing wind power market, said industry experts. Following recent incidents where a total of 1,346 wind turbines were disconnected from the power grid on April 17 in Gansu and Hebei provinces, China is planning to issue stringent national standards for wind turbine manufacturers. The incidents, which caused energy wastage, reduced electricity output to millions of customers. The . . .
Wind turbines damage a section of Great Wall
A wind power company in central China has been fined 400,000 yuan (US$61,730) for its illegal installation of wind turbines that damaged a 2-kilometer section of the Great Wall. The 1-billion-yuan project by Henan Zhongtou Yingke Co Ltd has been suspended after damages were found last month in the one of the wall’s oldest sections in Yexian County, Henan Province, said Li Shujin, head of the province’s cultural relics bureau. This section of the Great Wall dates back to the . . .
Love wind, fear wind: growing pains of China’s wind power industry
In a vast prairie to the north of Hohhot, the capital city of north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, hundreds of wind turbines stand like a vast, unbroken forest. The turbines have created both opportunities and problems for the region’s power companies. “I long for wind, but I also fear wind,” says Su Changyou, a manager of a wind farm located in Inner Mongolia’s Siziwang Banner (County). “During high winds, my wind turbines will rotate in full gear, which means . . .
Wind turbine rule to enhance power grid safety
BEIJING – China’s electricity regulatory authority reiterated the need for China’s wind turbines to be equipped with low-voltage ride through (LVRT) capability to protect the security of the country’s power grid on Thursday. In a circular regarding the intensification of wind farm security management, the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) said that wind turbines must be LVRT-capable, and that wind turbines that don’t feature the technology should be upgraded as soon as possible. LVRT refers to the capacity of wind . . .
In China, the true cost of Britain’s clean, green wind power experiment: Pollution on a disastrous scale
On the outskirts of one of China’s most polluted cities, an old farmer stares despairingly out across an immense lake of bubbling toxic waste covered in black dust. He remembers it as fields of wheat and corn. Yan Man Jia Hong is a dedicated Communist. At 74, he still believes in his revolutionary heroes, but he despises the young local officials and entrepreneurs who have let this happen. ‘Chairman Mao was a hero and saved us,’ he says. ‘But these . . .
US accuses China of illegally subsidising wind power manufacture
The US has accused China of illegally subsidising the production of wind power equipment and asked for talks at the World Trade Organisation, the first step in filing a trade case. “These subsidies effectively operate as a barrier to US exports to China,” US trade representative Ron Kirk said in a statement. The announcement is in response to a petition filed in September by the United Steelworkers (USW) accusing Beijing of a long list of trade-distorting policies. It comes about . . .
Turbines and turbulence
Some legitimate questions have been raised over the green credentials of wind turbines. Politics must not block research where it is needed. Will wind turbines wreck the environment? Last month, the South China Morning Post published a news story that contained a thinly veiled attack on China’s wind industry. The article cited herdsmen in a village in Inner Mongolia who say rain stopped falling after the establishment of a nearby wind farm, and meteorologists who backed up the observation with . . .
Are wind farms changing the weather? As China plans new era of turbine power, the technology may not be as green as it seems
About 12 kilometres north of the Huitengliang wind farm at Xilinhot, Inner Mongolia, herdsman Siqinbateer has observed a weird phenomenon in his pasture that baffles even meteorologists. “The ground heats up quickly, like a pan on a stove, the wind blows like a headless fly and not a single drop of rain falls,” he said in August, during the rainy season. He pointed at the spinning blades of the wind turbines over the horizon. “This started happening after they came.” . . .
