Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
in provinces such as Jilin, Liaoning, and Xinjiang,
25
consolidated research
into wind power didn't really gel until the oil shocks of the early 1970s,
when China began to develop wind energy primarily to supply electric-
ity to remote communities.
26
It wasn't until 1986 that the irst wind farm
was completed, in Rongcheng County of Shandong Province. his project
was primarily for exploratory R&D and consisted of three imported 55 kW
Vestas wind turbines.
27
In 1989, through favorable inancial backing, the
CPC encouraged the development of two larger-scale proof of concept proj-
ects—one in Dabancheng, Xinjiang Province consisting of thirteen Bonus
(now Siemens of Germany) 150 kW wind turbines, and one in Sonid Youqi,
Inner Mongolia consisting of ive USW (now Kentech of the US) 100 kW
wind turbines. At the time, the Dabancheng project was the largest wind
farm in Asia.
he years 1991 to 1993 represent a period of consolidated R&D and learn-
ing by doing. hroughout this period, a host of projects employing diferent
brands of foreign-made turbines and diferent output capacities were estab-
lished. Between 1991 and 1992, the Dalankuo wind farm was constructed in
Nan'ao, Guandong. his project consisted of three 130 kW and six 150 kW
Vestas (Denmark) turbines. Between 1992 and 1993, the Dabancheng proj-
ect was expanded with the addition of four 300 kW Vestas turbines, four
300 kW Bonus turbines, and four 500 kW Bonus turbines. he Sonid Youqi
project in Inner Mongolia was also expanded in 1993 when four turbines
from Dutch manufacturer HSM were added. Table 6.3 (next page) demon-
strates the limited scale and scope of wind power developments in the early
days of the program.
In 1994, the Ministry of Electric Power announced two initiatives—the
Chengfeng Plan and the Shuangjia Plan—to move wind power develop-
ment from the proof of concept stage to commercialization. In support of
these programs, regulations were announced that required grid compa-
nies to facilitate grid connections to all wind farms and purchase all elec-
tricity generated. On-grid tarifs were determined on a project-by-project
basis incorporating capital, inancing, operation and maintenance costs,
and proit margins that were in the neighborhood of 8 to 10%.
28
he
allure of guaranteed proits drew private investment into the industry
and lead to elevated development. As Table 6.3 illustrates, between 1994
and 1996 cumulative installed wind power capacity increased from 10.14
MW to 57.44 MW, but all of the development involved foreign-made
wind turbines.
In 1996, the State Development and Planning Commission (SDPC)
announced the Ride the Wind Program, which mandated that any SDPC
wind power project must contain at least 40% locally made components.
