XINXIANG WIND POWER
Some facts on wind power in China.
1. Installed capacity is now 12.2GW.
2. Only The USA, Germany and Spain have more capacity.
3. This will change by early 2012, when China will be the World no 1 in capacity
4. Nearly all the investment is being funded by Carbon Credits under the Clean Development Machanism (CDM), whereby industrialised countries can fulfil part of their greenhouse gas reduction commitments by investing in clean energy technology in developing countries.
Thus, by way of example, consider the position of Dali Zhemoshan, the ighest wind farm in china at an altitude of 3000 Metres. Here there are 41 turbines, and a generating capacity of 30.75MW. These 41 turbines (each 48 metres high) generate the same amount of energy as burning 20,000 tons of coal., saving the emission of 50,000 tins of carbon dioxide each year.
The wind turbines in Dali were funded with a Euro 30 million loan from the French Development Agency.The carbon credits will be purchased by Rabobank of Holland. The credits are estimated to be between 7-8% of annual income, thus hopefully the Dali project will be self-sufficient within 10-15 years.
5. China currently relies on coal for more than 70% of its energy.
6. China has now set a target of generating 15% of its energy from renewable sources (wind and water etc) by 2020.
(Also read the world in The Daily Tiger)