China Wind Power Offers Europe Opportunities, Oxford Study Says

China’s changing priorities for wind power are creating opportunities for European companies as the world’s biggest polluter seeks to boost wind-park efficiency, a study by researchers at Oxford University said.

Wind park siting, or picking the best site for the turbine to gain the most wind energy, and grid development are among opportunities for collaboration between European and Chinese companies, Benito Mueller, director of Oxford University’s Institute for Energy Studies, and colleagues wrote in a study.

China erected more turbines last year than any other country and may install a record 18 gigawatts of wind power capacity this year, Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates. Second-quarter financing of renewable energy in China surged 72 percent to $11.5 billion, more than Europe and the U.S. combined, New Energy Finance said on July 13.

The European Union and China should explore more ventures to collaborate on wind park development, operations and transmission, the authors wrote. Additional cooperation may help China establish targets for carbon-dioxide reductions through wind power expansion, they said.

China has enough wind-energy potential to generate seven times its current power consumption, said Michael McElroy, a researcher at Harvard University in a study published last September in Science.

Wind turbines now operating in China are turning 23 percent of the time compared with 35 percent in the U.S. because of lower-quality equipment, limitations by the electric grid and not having windmills in the best sites, McElroy and his co- authors wrote at the time.

Source: Bloomberg Businessweek                                                                                 Published on: July 16, 2010

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