Renewable Energy Policy Update For China

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http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/07/renewable-energy-policy-update-for-china

Renewable energy in China continues to play an increasingly important and strategic role in the country’s energy development. Total renewable power capacity in China reached 226 GW in 2009, including 197 GW of hydro, 25.8 GW of wind, 3.2 GW of biomass, and 0.4 GW of grid-connected solar PV. This total was more than one quarter of China’s total installed power capacity of 860 GW. And, significantly, during the five-year period 2005–2009, wind power grew thirty-fold, from just 0.8 GW at the end of 2004.

China is now second only to the United States in total wind capacity, and tied with long-time leader Germany. China surpassed both of those countries in new capacity added in 2009, at 13.8 GW. Also added in 2009 were 22 GW of new hydro, 0.4 GW of new biomass power, and 160 MW of additional grid-connected solar PV. Installations of grid-connected solar PV also accelerated in 2009 as the first beginnings of a true domestic market emerged. In addition, there were small capacity amounts existing for both geothermal, at 34 MW, and marine energy with some 4 MW.

China’s wind turbine manufacturing industry became the largest in the world in just four short years, with three Chinese producers now in the top 10 globally, according to the latest BTM report: Sinovel, Goldwind and Dongfang – see page 32 for more details on this. More than 80 domestic manufacturing firms now exist and most Chinese turbines are now in the 1.5–2 MW class, in comparison with earlier years when sub-1 MW models still accounted for a large proportion of turbine production. China is now also the largest manufacturer of solar PV, supplying almost 40% of all solar PV worldwide in 2009. About 4 GW/year of manufacturing capacity existed by the end of 2009 and more than 500 solar PV firms were established. The top-three Chinese producers were Suntech (704 MW in 2009), Baoding Yingli (525 MW), and Jingao (JA) Solar (524 MW).

In other market developments, the solar hot water market continued to boom, increasing from 31 million m2 (22 GWth) added in 2008 to 42 million m2 (29 GWth) added in 2009, partly as a result of a new rural energy subsidy programme for home appliances, for which solar hot water qualifies. The total existing solar hot water capacity increased to 145 million m2, or enough for 60 million households (assuming 2.5 m2 of absorber each). The period 2008–2009 also saw the beginning of offshore wind power development, with bidding underway for at least one 70 MW project and several hundred megawatts planned across a number of other projects.

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