A "wind-win" situation
Through US-China Renewable Energy Partnership, US cleantech firms partner with Chinese wind industry leaders and government agencies to support China's renewable energy development goals
China's rapidly developing wind industry faces enormous challenges over the coming decade. The industry is targeted for expansion by the Chinese government as a Strategic Prioritized Industry and benefits from a number of government initiatives encouraging growth. Chinese businesses have responded energetically to these initatives, and the Chinese installed wind capacity has grown at a "breakneck pace," according to GWEC -- from 2 GW in 2005 to almost 45 GW in 2010.
Technical Leadership
China's wind industry recognizes that it needs to exhibit technical leadership to be competitive in a global market. Within China, the wind industry faces challenges including reliable grid integration, quality in execution, and advanced understanding of the wind resource. As Chinese turbine OEMs and project developers expand their business globally, they are seeking to bring their technology up to par with the advances in those markets.
An initiative by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory called the US-China Renewable Energy Partnership is matching US-based cleantech firms with opportunities in Chinese markets, helping foster cooperation between the two countries. The USCREP brings scientists, entrepreneurs, and policy makers from both nations together to enable rapid advances in renewable energy technology and develop better ways of integrating renewable energy into existing power grids.
USCREP is working with leading research institutions and companies in both nations, including China’s State Grid Energy Research Institute, Alcoa, General Electric, HydroChina and Duke Energy. One of the projects involves improving the understanding of wind resource and therefore the efficiency of Chinese wind farms.
Micrositing and Wind Farm Design
The USCREP team, under the leadership of NREL's David Kline, realized that Second Wind's sodar technology could help Chinese wind developers solve the problem of micrositing -- how to arrange new wind turbines on sites where variations in wind speeds can make major differences in turbine's annual energy output. Already commercialized in the West, Second Wind's Triton was deployed at a Hydrochina site for a performance test and is now being marketed in China by Beijing New Energy Technology.
Ultimately, the USCREP initiatives will help the Chinese wind energy market support China's development goals and will also benefit what Kline calls the four key elements of US international cooperation: "the economy, the environment, technology advancement, and energy security."
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