Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) — China accounted for more than a third
of all newly installed onshore wind power capacity last year,
according to a Bloomberg New Energy Finance report.
China installed 15.9 gigawatts of onshore turbines in 2012
to be the world’s largest wind market in terms of annual
installed capacity, despite an 18 percent decline from a year
earlier, the London-based research company said in a report
today. The U.S. installed a record 13.2 gigawatts in 2012, 14
percent fewer turbines than China, the report said.
Wind energy has become the Asian nation’s third-biggest
energy resource, following coal and hydropower, and generates 2
percent of its total electricity, according to data from China’s
State Electricity Regulatory Commission.
Inner Mongolia led China in 2012 with 1.7 gigawatts of new
capacity, followed by Shandong with 1.4 gigawatts and Hebei with
1.1 gigawatts, BNEF said. The company said 15 gigawatts,
accounting for 20 percent of China’s wind capacity, remains
unconnected to the grid in the country.
Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co. led Guodian
United Power Technology Co. and Sinovel Wind Group Co. to supply
equipment to the nation last year, said BNEF. China’s largest
wind-energy developers were China Longyuan Power Group Corp. and
Huaneng Renewables Corp.
China will probably install 16.6 gigawatts of wind-power
capacity this year and 17 gigawatts to 18 gigawatts in 2014 and
2015, according to the report. At those rates the nation will
achieve its end-2015 goal of 100 gigawatts of grid-connected
capacity more than a year early, BNEF forecasts.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Feifei Shen in Beijing at
fshen11@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
