China's Wind Power Manufacturing Industry Excessively Over-Developed

Statistics show that China's accumulated installed wind power capacity in 2008 reached 12,200 megawatts (MW), which is twice that written in the country's 11th five-year plan, a national development plan covering 2006-10. According to research by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, TX), the capacity is expected to achieve 20,000 MW by the end of 2009.

In the meantime, statistics show that China has more than 70 domestic wind power generator manufacturers, which is more than all other wind power generator manufacturers worldwide. China also has an excessively large number of companies manufacturing wind turbine blades. Consensus has been reached that China's wind power equipment manufacturing industry, as a whole, is over-developed.

Northern China's autonomous region of Inner Mongolia tops the country in terms of installed wind power capacity that transmits power to the national electricity grid. Inner Mongolia has an installed wind power capacity of 3,000 MW, and is expected to top 5,000 MW by the end of 2010.

Inner Mongolia has adopted a policy favorable to the development of the wind power equipment manufacturing industry, giving priority to those manufacturers when allocating wind power resources.

In January 2009, Baotou Huiquan Rare Earth Company, an Inner Mongolia company, invested 280 million yuan ($43 million) and started developing a 120-MW-per-year wind power generating unit manufacturing project in Baotou City, Inner Mongolia.

In March 2009, a Guangdong company invested 1 billion yuan ($154 million) and started developing a wind power equipment production facility in Hohhot, the capital city of Inner Mongolia. Once built, the facility is expected to produce 500 sets of turbine blades and 500 wind power generators per year.

Inner Mongolia also attracted a number of European wind equipment manufacturers. For example, Danish company Vestas, the world's No. 1 wind power equipment manufacturer, invested 600 million yuan ($92 million) and started building a plant in Hohhot last July. The plant is capable of producing 800 wind power generating units per year and has produced its first 8,500-MW generator.