Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: Wind Power Connection Increases by 92.26% Last Year

Author:  Source: Powercn.net  Published time: January 12, 2010

Yesterday, as revealed by the 2009 electric power industry data published at the website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the installed capacity in 2009 in China amounted to 874 million kW, with 897 million kW as newly added. This indicates that the installed capacity of the country has been growing a little faster than its GDP growth.

As indicated by the data, by the end of 2009, the national capacity of power generation equipment was 8.7407 trillion kW, an increase of 10.23% year on year. Hydropower was 1.9679 trillion kW, taking up 22.51% of the total capacity, at a growth rate of 14.01% year on year; thermal power amounted to 6.5205 trillion kW, accounting for 74.60% of the total capacity at a growth rate of 8.16%. The proportion of hydropower in the total capacity increased by 0.74%, while that of thermal power decreased by 1.45%.

According to industry insiders, China is speeding up the adjustment of its non-thermal installed capacity so much so that hydropower, wind power, and nuclear power will grow faster than thermal power, though the proportion of thermal power in the total capacity will remain absolutely dominant within five years.

It is worth noting that, according to the data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the total installed capacity of wind power connected to grids in 2009 was 161.3 billion kW, an increase of 92.26% year on year, making 2009 the year seeing the fastest growth of wind power connected to grids in recent years.

Though the installed capacity of wind power has been growing 100% each year in China, the capacity connected to grids has lagged far behind the installed capacity, leading to a massive waste, which has also been one of the bottlenecks limiting the development of wind power development in China. By the end of 2008, the installed capacity of wind power in China amounted to 122.1 billion kW accumulatively, but only 894 million kW was connected to the grid, with 327 million kW left idle and unconnected to the grid.