Localising Chinese Wind Turbine Manufacturing  

Renewable Energy World has an interesting article on the slow and steady process of creation an indigenous Chinese wind power industry - China's Wind Power Industry: Localizing Equipment Manufacturing.

When 2007 ended, China's installed base of wind power totaled just over 6 gigawatts (GW), earning the country fifth place among the world's largest wind energy producers (after Germany, the U.S., Spain and India), up from sixth place in 2006. Wind power industry statistics show that by the end of 2008, China's total installed base of wind power production will have reached 10 GW; some experts are estimating that by 2010, the total installed capacity for wind power generation in China will reach 20 GW and that by 2020 China's installed base of wind power will total 100 GW (current global wind installation is 94 GW).

In 2007 an estimated 24 billion Yuan [approximately US $3.28 billion] was invested in China's wind energy sector. Not surprisingly, this level of investment has spawned an industry — local manufacturers are responding by producing the equipment and components that the wind energy industry requires to sustain this growth.

It is conservatively estimated that between 2006 and 2015, 100 billion Yuan [US $14.5 billion] will be spent on equipment and component purchases to further develop China's wind power industry. According to the Ministry of Commerce, by the end of 2006 there were more than 100 Chinese companies manufacturing equipment and components for the wind industry. ...

To help spur the development of an indigenous wind power equipment and components industry, Beijing has mandated that all new wind power projects have at least a 70% Chinese component. Wind power equipment manufacturers also now enjoy a 50% discount on value added taxes (VAT) payable in China.

On April 23, 2008 the Ministry of Finance announced two changes to import tariff regulations with respect to the wind power industry, further spurring development of Chinese wind power equipment manufacturing. The first change, effective January 1, 2008, implemented a tariff and VAT rebate program for imports of parts and raw materials used in the manufacture of wind turbines. This change was significant because a large percentage of parts and raw materials used in the manufacture of wind turbines still must be sourced from outside of China.

The second tariff change, effective May 1, 2008, eliminated the tariff-free importation of wind turbines less than 2.5 MW. This tariff change is a strong indicator that the Chinese wind turbine industry is maturing rapidly; as recently as late 2007 Chinese wind power equipment was incapable of producing megawatt-class wind turbines.

Megawatt-class turbines are increasingly produced domestically and the elimination of tariff-free imports of wind turbines less than 2.5 MW in size will give added impetus to the domestic production of increasingly large wind turbines.

The economics of the wind power equipment industry are quite favorable. At present the cost of construction of wind power in China is approximately 8000-9000 Yuan/Kw [US $1170-1315 /kw] and 60% to 70% of those costs are equipment purchases. ...

According to Steve Sawyer, secretary general of the Global Wind Energy Council, by 2009 China will become the world's largest producer of wind turbines. At present China has at least 40 wind-power turbine manufacturers: 17 are state-owned or state-controlled companies, 12 are private Chinese companies, 7 are joint-venture companies and 4 are wholly foreign-owned companies.

Though China has yet to export wind turbines, China's two largest wind turbine manufacturers — Xinjiang Jinfeng (Goldwind, whose December 2007 initial public offering (IPO) was the first pure-play wind power equipment Chinese stock offering in the U.S.) and Sinovel — have plans to export in 2009 and 2010.

Many of the largest wind turbine and other equipment manufacturers have licensed technology from western companies, including from AMSC Windtec, REpower, Aerodyn, Vensys and Garrad Hassan. Most of the largest Chinese wind turbine manufacturers have begun to produce 1.5-MW wind turbines and gradually these Chinese wind turbine manufacturers, having purchased designs for 2-, 3- and 5-MW wind turbines, are developing prototypes of larger wind turbines.

REW also has an article proposing a plan for meeting Al Gore's 100% renewable energy target - focusing on the wind power component - Can the U.S. Reach 100 Percent Renewable Electricity in 10 Years?.

To significantly address the United States' contribution to climate change and to prepare for the diminishing supply of liquid fuels and their increasing volatility, the nation needs to embark on a grand effort to install one million megawatts (MW) of wind generating capacity. Anything less will miss the mark.

North Americans have been dabbling around the edges of energy policy. Until recently, few have acknowledged the seriousness of the challenge facing the continent.

The scale of the task is enormous, but eminently doable. ...

Our next great challenge will be the rapid conversion of American electricity supply from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy, and the conversion of the bulk of personal transportation to electric vehicles. In doing so we can transform society and re-industrialize the continent's heartland.

Here's a simple summary of targets necessary to make the difference needed:

Currently the U.S. consumes ~4,000 terawatt-hours of electricity per year (TWh/yr) That's 4,000 billion kWh/yr. Americans use more electricity per capita than almost anyone else on the planet. Europeans, for the same level of comfort, services, and industrial production, use one-half the per capita consumption of Americans. The U.S., then, can cut its consumption of electricity by at least 50% for the same standard of living as now. Thus, a rational target for U.S. consumption is ~2,000 TWh/yr.

Wind is only one form of renewable energy. To build a truly sustainable supply we will need all forms of renewable energy, not only wind. Nevertheless, we'll only examine the role that wind can play.

Wind generation is variable. At any single wind turbine the wind is not always blowing. However, when a continent-wide network of wind turbines are connected together, wind can provide a significant portion of total generation. Some studies have suggested that 50% of supply can be provided by wind with modest amounts of backup generation.

Wind could then supply 50% of reduced U.S. consumption or ~1,000 TWh/yr. (This is equivalent to ~25% penetration for the business as usual case, that is, without a massive conservation effort.)

Today most wind turbines in North America are installed on the windiest sites possible. These turbines are highly productive. However, as the industry expands, it will be forced to use increasingly less windy sites. Typically, wind turbines on a regional or national scale, like those in Germany, Denmark, or California, produce ~2 TWh/yr for every 1,000 MW of wind capacity installed.

For the wind to generate ~1,000 TWh/yr, we would need to install ~500,000 MW of wind generating capacity across the breadth of the country.

And while I'm not a fan of the idea of large scale biodiesel manufacturing, REW also has an article on creating useful byproducts from the biodiesel production process - The Byproducts of Biodiesel Production Are Valuable Organic Acids, Researchers Say.

In a move that could possibly change the economics of biodiesel refining, chemical engineers at Rice University have come up with a set of techniques for converting sometimes problematic biofuels waste into chemicals that fetch a profit.

The latest research, which was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Science Foundation, Rice University and Glycos Biotechnologies, involves a new fermentation process that allows E. coli and other enteric bacteria to convert glycerin — the major waste byproduct of biodiesel production — into formate, succinate and other valuable organic acids.

"Biodiesel producers used to sell their leftover glycerin, but the rapid increase in biodiesel production has left them paying to get rid of it," said lead researcher Ramon Gonzalez, Rice's William W. Akers Assistant Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. "The new metabolic pathways we have uncovered paved the way for the development of new technologies for converting this waste product into high-value chemicals."

About one pound of glycerin, also known as glycerol, is created for every 10 pounds of biodiesel produced. According to the National Biodiesel Board, U.S. companies produced about 450 million gallons of biodiesel in 2007, and about 60 new plants with a production capacity of 1.2 billion gallons are slated to open by 2010.

Gonzalez's team last year announced a new method of glycerol fermentation that used E. coli to produce ethanol, another biofuel. Even though the process was very efficient, with operational costs estimated to be about 40 percent less that those of producing ethanol from corn, Gonzalez said new fermentation technologies that produce high-value chemicals like succinate and formate hold even more promise for biodiesel refiners because those chemicals are more profitable than ethanol.