China: Wind Power's New Force

China November 26, 2007, 7:18AM EST

China: Wind Power's New Force

Beijing spent some $2 billion on the renewable energy source last year, and the mainland is on track to eclipse Europe, Japan, and the U.S. in a few years

by Dexter Roberts

China's alternative energy market is growing in gusts. Beijing has set the ambitious goal of having renewable energy (including hydro, solar, biomass, and wind) meet 15% of its energy needs by 2020. The European Union, by contrast, is aiming for 20% by the same date, and the U.S. just 7.5% by 2013. Achieving that 15% goal will take an astonishing $265 billion in investment, and just last year China sank some $10 billion into alternative energy, second only to Germany.

For China, wind is the fastest growing renewable: In 2006, the government spent some $2 billion, doubling capacity, and putting China on track to eclipse top wind manufacturers in Europe, Japan, and the U.S. within a few years, predicts a report released on Nov. 14 by Washington (D.C.)-based Worldwatch Institute.

"Wind power in China historically has been driven by a desire for industrial development," says Eric Martinot, senior visiting scholar at the Tsinghua-BP Clean Energy Research& Education Center in Beijing and one of two authors of the report. "But it is now being eclipsed by a desire for energy security. Beijing wants anything that can substitute for energy imports and anything that can stretch out China's coal reserves." Martinot predicts China will easily exceed its wind power plan, which calls for 5 gigawatts (a gigawatt equals 1 billion watts) of installed capacity by 2010.

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