Society

Wind turbine makers captivated by offshore potentials

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-20 14:27
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Massive business opportunities

As a result of five years of three-digit annual growth, energy companies have carved up areas with favorable conditions for onshore wind power development. The top five state-owned power companies, along with local energy investors, have invested heavily for early stage offshore wind exploration.

Industry insiders said NEB is considering launching its second public tender for offshore wind power concession projects in the first half of next year. It will be two gw to double the size of the first public tender, which was completed last year in eastern Jiangsu province.

Yi Yuechun, deputy chief engineer of China Hydropower Planning and Designing Institute, said these pilot offshore wind farms will raise large demands for offshore wind turbines and subsequently promote astounding advances of the Chinese wind turbine manufacturing sector.

According to the 12th Five-Year Plan, China will have five gw of offshore wind installed capacity by 2015. Industry officials estimate China will have 30 gw of offshore wind installed capacity by 2020.

Tao Gang, vice president of Sinovel, said this means China will need about 6,000 units of five-mw turbines by 2020 - a lucrative business opportunity.

Credibility

Despite the attractive business opportunities, industry insiders question if wind-turbine makers will be able to supply so many quality offshore wind turbines, since offshore wind farms are more complicated constructions than land-based wind farms.

By the end of 2010, China replaced the United States as the world's largest in installed capacity, totaling 44.7 gw.

However, such rapid advances have exposed hidden problems in China's wind power development, as the country has witnessed three large-scale breakdowns that disconnected hundreds of wind turbines from the grid so far this year.

Meng Lingbin, deputy general manager of Datang Renewables, a leading wind farm operator, said, "It will take about 10 minutes to have a minor turbine fault rectified on land, but for offshore wind farms, it might take weeks to repair a minor fault if under stormy conditions."

Zhou Fengqi, vice chairman of China Energy Association, said it costs several million yuan to hoist an offshore wind turbine for simple maintenance, not to mention big incidents.

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