At the end of the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" in China, wind power capacity will reach 100 million kilowatts

The reporter learned from the relevant officials of the National Energy Administration that according to the annual installed capacity of more than 10 million kilowatts per year, by the end of the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan”, China’s wind power installation is expected to reach 90 million to 100 million kilowatts. By 2020, China’s wind power capacity will reach 150 million kilowatts.

During the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” period, Gansu, Hebei, Jilin, Mengdong, and Mengxi in the 70 million-kilowatt base in China will basically be completed. In the same period, China’s non-hydro renewable energy generation capacity is expected to reach 200 billion kWh, equivalent to 70 million tons of standard coal.

The source stated that since the "12th Five-Year Plan" for energy is a sub-item in the Twelfth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development, it will be promulgated after the issuance of the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" master plan. The time is expected to be in the first half of 2011, and part of it involving wind power generation belongs to the implementation plan. Therefore, it is only issued for the relevant departments and related regions, and is not announced externally.

Zhu Junsheng, director of the China Resources Comprehensive Utilization Association's Renewable Energy Professional Committee, estimates that the new installed capacity in 2010 will exceed 10 million kilowatts, and the total installed capacity will reach 40 million kilowatts. Klaus Rave, chairman of the Global Wind Energy Council, predicts that by the end of 2011, China will surpass the United States as the world's largest wind power market.

According to the China Wind Power Development Report 2010 released by the China Resources Comprehensive Utilization Association’s Renewable Energy Professional Committee, China’s accumulated wind power capacity is expected to reach 230 million kilowatts by 2020. However, the major wind power manufacturers in China all have more optimistic estimates for the total installed capacity of wind power in 2020. Han Junliang, chairman of Sinovel Wind Power, predicts that China's wind power installation in 2020 is expected to exceed 250 million kilowatts, even reaching 300 million kilowatts. Wu Gang, chairman of Goldwind Technologies, believes that China's wind power capacity will reach 320 million kilowatts by 2020.

A director of the High-tech Division of the Ministry of Science and Technology, who declined to be named, also stated at the meeting that during the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” period, the ministry will give priority to supporting R&D and manufacturing of 3-5 MW onshore and 5-10 MW offshore turbines.

According to industry insiders, if the investment is calculated at the level of 10,000 kW of investment, the related investment driven by wind power during the 12th Five-Year Plan will reach 500 billion yuan. Affected by the pre-increase of installed capacity in the future and incentives for large-scale wind turbines, wind power equipment manufacturing leading enterprises such as Sinovel, Goldwind, Shanghai Electric, Dongfang Electric, Hunan Electric and Mingyang Wind Power will benefit greatly. The power companies with a higher installed capacity of wind power, such as Longyuan Power, Datang New Energy and Huaneng New Energy, will also benefit from this.

According to the statistics provided by the national energy, by the end of 2009, the installed capacity of wind power in China has reached about 25 million kilowatts, ranking second in the world.