China: 248 GW of wind power in 2010

China is expected to have reached a total installed wind power capacity of 248 GW in 2020 representing a compound annual growth rate of almost 23%.

The figures from the Chinese Wind Energy Association show that China’s cumulative installed wind power capacity is expected to grow by a factor of 10 from 2009 to 2010.

China’s wind power has already increased 20 fold from 2005 to 2009 and is expected to reach 20 GW annually by 2014. In 2009, the country reached 25.8 GW installed, making China overtake Germany to become the world’s second largest wind market behind the USA, business analyst Datamonitor says.

Alex Desbarres, Datamonitor Analyst and lead author of the report Renewable Energy in China, says: “Over the past five years China has continually outperformed expectations in the global wind power market. Its increasing power requirements, growing dependency on energy imports and elevated green house gas emission levels makes wind power a viable and sustainable complement to China’s existing energy mix.

“The Chinese Government is committing the equivalent of 3% of its GDP to stimulus spending, while introducing a wide range of policies to technically and financially support wind power generation.

“As a result we expect the country to grow its wind capacity aggressively and to hold its position as the world’s largest market in terms of new capacity additions.”

Desbarres adds: “China’s wind resources are vast but the potential to exploit them is undoubtedly being driven by aggressive government policies which aim to diversify China’s electricity supply, support the growth of the domestic renewable energy industry and boost levels of investment in infrastructures.”