Wind development in China is reaching out to its frontiers -- where curtailment and transmission limitations are not an issue.
Here are some observations from the new GTM Research/Azure International China Wind Market Quarterly: 4th Quarter 2012:
- From snow-covered Tibet to the tidewaters of Jiangsu, China wind farm developers are looking to expand in areas that don’t suffer from the curtailment issues impacting China’s major wind bases in the north and northeast.
- In late November, China completed construction on five turbines at the world’s highest-elevation wind farm, the Naqu wind farm, located in north-central Tibet. At over 4,500 meters of elevation, the remote site uses turbines from Guodian United.
- Longyuan is participating in the construction of one of the largest offshore wind farms in Jiangsu, the Rudong Intertidal wind project, which is now on-line. The Rudong project is a large intertidal test-bed project intended to demonstrate the quality and performance of Chinese-made turbines in this new environment, and has been under construction since 2009. In addition, Guodian United announced installation of its 6-megawatt turbines at the Lianyungang offshore wind project in Shandong. Expansion into offshore wind, intertidal and low-wind-speed areas has been slow but should continue.