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Since 2010 China has faced a worrying phenomenon “wind curtailment” in the development and operation of the wind power industry. This phenomenon has resulted in sharp decline of the utilization hours of the wind power equipment, seriously affected the economic benefits of the wind farms and caused serious energy waste. The wind curtailment in China is seemingly caused by the volatility of the wind power technical characteristics. However, judging from a deep level, the planning, networking management and policies play a critical role. With analysis this paper makes such a conclusion: it is not practical to solve the wind curtailment of China solely with the technical solutions and comprehensive measures must be taken. The paper offers strategies from the planning, policy and technical levels to solve the wind curtailment problem according to the actual situation of China and by referring to experiences of developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a global consensus on making full use of renewable energy because of human concern for energy security and environmental deterioration. Power generation with large-scale renewable energy such as solar and wind energy has become the trend of modern power systems, and the resulting impacts on power systems are more and more prominent. Therefore, there is great concern from academic and engineering areas of all countries. In China, as the fastest growing country in the photovoltaic (PV) industry in the world, these problems are particularly outstanding. This paper extensively reviews the present research and application status of large-scale PV (LSPV) power generation in China, discusses the modelling and simulation techniques of LSPV, explores impacts of LSPV integration on dynamic and static characteristics of power systems, and describes key technologies about LSPV power generation delivery and consumption from the perspective of power system planning, simulation, dispatching and control. Additionally, this paper also refines academic and engineering problems, and recommendations are proposed for future research and development of LSPV power generation in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the conventional energy resources are limited and environmental problems are becoming increasingly prominent, new energy resources, being environmental friendly and renewable, are paid more and more attention by all the countries. At present, the development and utilization of new energy resources in China has made progress. However, due to the factors such as the international energy competition situation, China׳s productivity level and its development phase, and the lagging of related system and mechanism reforms, China׳s new energy has been faced with constraints in the aspects of the system, efficiency, supply, region and technology. If related reforms were not implemented, the development of new energy in China would be severely hindered for a long period of time in the future. In view of this, this paper reviewed the development status of China׳s new energy industry, and analyzed five aspects of constraints. Moreover, a discussion was carried out from four aspects of the system, consumption, production, technology reforms in order to break the corresponding constraints. Finally the future development planning of new energy was presented. All in all, the deep investigation into China׳s new energy development status, constraints, reforms and planning in this paper is aimed at promoting the reform of new energy resources production and utilization modes, improving the policy system continuously, addressing the deep-rooted institutional contradictions of the new energy industry, and providing the reference and advice for the transformation of China׳s energy structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green and renewable, wind is one of the major ways to produce power. However, natural wind used for tunnel ventilation is often neglected. Natural wind is usually regarded as resistance. Every year, unchanging ventilation mode and unreasonable control strategy lead to huge energy consumption and economic loss In China. This paper mainly discusses and analyzes the current situation of energy consumption in extra-long tunnel operation ventilation in China. It proposes the natural wind utilization in extra-long segmented tunnels. Therefore, a scientific and theoretical calculation method for extra-long tunnels located in climate separation zone is presented in this paper. Principles of natural wind in each tunnel section are obtained based on long-term monitored meteorological factors. A feasible optimized energy-saving ventilation strategy is put forward, which utilizes natural wind and will minimize the operation energy consumption. It is concluded that, the results about operation energy consumption from this paper can provide useful technical supports in design, operation and management for tunnels all over the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a good power supplement form of super power and large-scale energy base, distributed energy has the characteristics of less investment and flexible power generation. Facing with the double pressure of the sustainable development of energy use and environmental protection, it has become an efficient solution to meet the demand of load growth, reduce environmental pollution and improve the comprehensive utilization of energy and the reliability of power supply. However, the development of distributed energy starts relatively late in China and confronts many difficulties. So this paper analyzes the present development situation and existing problems of the distributed energy in China. Then it elaborates from the aspects of policies and regulations, technical specifications, price policy and grid-interconnection codes. At last, this paper puts forward relevant policy suggestions of the guarantee mechanism of distributed energy. This paper argues that, with the attention of the development of distributed energy increasing, a series of policies to promote the construction and interconnection of distributed energy will be introduced, and distributed energy will get scaled development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oil crisis and the successful commercial exploitation of shale gas in America have made shale gas become the focus of global energy industry. Shale gas industry will be developed mainly in the future. Sichuan has natural geographical advantages and becomes the main battlefield of shale gas in China. So it is necessary and urgent to analyze the current situation of Sichuan shale gas. This paper introduces the status quo of shale gas in Sichuan, and systematically analyzes the industrial environment for developing Sichuan shale gas from four aspects of policy, economy, society, technology. Then the issues facing Sichuan are discussed. Finally, the paper puts forward some corresponding recommendations to provide certain references to the development of shale gas industry in Sichuan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal of this paper is to argue for the necessity and significance of studying the distributional employment impacts of renewable and new energy development (RNE). Based on the comprehensive review of the methodology and conclusions of existing literatures, this paper builds up an extended input–output model to study RNE’s distributional employment impacts on gender and personnel structure. The case study of China׳s power sector in this paper affirmed earlier doubts that RNE development will indeed aggravate the gender inequality problem and add to the level of mismatch between the structure of labor demand and supply, causing structural unemployment problems. The quantitative analysis in this paper outlined here implies that from 2011 to 2020 the development of RNE will bring about 7 million employment gains, but only 81.8% of which can be realized due to the mismatch problem. The study of China may alert other countries to be less-optimistic about RNE’s employment impacts and reaffirm the need to carry out the distributional employment impacts analysis. This paper concludes with policy suggestions such as providing suitable training and equal promotion opportunities for women, offering courses and vocational trainings to RNE-related majors, in order to reduce the structural unemployment problem and further speed up the development of RNE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has become a net importer of natural gas as a result of rapidly increasing consumption in recent years. A production peak would exist since natural gas is an exhaustible resource. As conventional natural gas production peak approaches, the development of unconventional natural gas is attracting increasing attention. China׳s unconventional natural gas reserves are abundant, but exploration is still in its infancy stage. Thus, with the increasing quest for low-carbon development and China׳s natural gas price reform, studying the impacts of unconventional gas development on China׳s natural gas supply and price reform under different scenarios has practical significance. In this paper we predict China׳s natural gas production trends in different scenarios and forecast natural gas demand. This paper concludes that the exploitation of unconventional natural gas will greatly improve China׳s annual natural gas production, and delay the production peak year. This is important for China׳s natural gas supply security as it can decrease dependence on imported gas. Furthermore, as the cleanest fossil fuel, it will enable more time and space for renewable energy development given the many costs and controversies surrounding its development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China faced the greatest challenge in balancing its economic growth, energy and resource security as well as environmental pollution. The energy-intensive industries, which used to be the major force driving China׳s economic growth, had seriously exhausted the countries׳ natural resources and energy, and at the same time polluted the environment because of the severe surplus of low-efficiency production capacities. As a result, the Chinese government had initiated multiple economic and administrative policies to eliminate these low-efficiency production capacities intended to improve the energy efficiency of energy-intensive industries. These policies are summarized in this paper, along with export tax rebating rate, resource tax, administrative audit and approvals, differential electric power pricing and shutting down the low-efficiency production capacities. The paper also evaluates the effects of these policies by analyzing several key indicators about the energy-intensive industries, including fixed asset investment growth rate, energy-intensity of industrial added-value, waste gas emission-intensity of industrial added-value. The VALDEX methodology is selected to examine the improving trends of energy-efficiency for energy-intensive industries. The analyzing results show that firstly the development of low-efficiency capacities tends to be more sensitive to the policies, so the policies that China had enacted really exert very important effects on improving the energy-efficiency of energy-intensive industries. However, the effects of economic policies seem more faster and obvious than the fiscal policies. Besides, the results also show that polices which are designed to reserve energy may not necessarily exert the same effects on reducing emissions. There is still large room for improving the energy efficiency of energy-intensive industries, substantial improvement still needs to be done for current policies’ system. Some suggestions for future work are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China׳s wind power industry has achieved tremendous successes in recent years. The country׳s cumulative installed capacity has exceeded that of America and ranked first in the world. The fast development has also been accompanied by inevitable high risks. Wind turbine accidents are happening with increasing frequency. Since insurance is an effective measure and instrument to control risks, it can guarantee healthy development of the wind power industry. So the fast-growing wind power industry in China is in urgent need of insurance services. However, currently the slow-developing insurance does not match the fast-growing wind power industry. Up to now, there have been few correlative studies on such field. Therefore, based on the problems behind development of China׳s wind power industry, this paper emphasizes the importance of insurance for China׳s wind power industry, and also analyzes the challenges that China׳s wind energy insurance companies have to face. The aim of this paper is to let more experts know the status of both the wind power industry and its corresponding insurance market in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: China''s PV industry has developed rapidly in recent years due to the dramatic demand from the world market. In contrast, until 2010 China''s domestic PV market has been very small due to lack of sufficient incentives in the country to promote domestic PV deployment. However, since early 2009 many incentives have been implemented in China. The paper makes an analysis on China''s solar PV incentive policies, particularly the national FIT scheme. Policy recommendations are made with regard to the promotion of the domestic solar PV market, including the construction of an effective national FIT scheme, the imposition of renewable portfolio system as well as the establishment of sound technical and administration standards for the grid-connection of PV systems. The paper contributes to the academic literature over China''s solar PV power policy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Since 2005, there has been dramatic progress in China''s wind power industry. The annual growth rate of newly constructed capacity reached a miracle of 105% and the total installed capacity has increased from 1.27GW in 2005 to 44.73GW in 2010, which has exceeded the target of China''s energy long-term planning for 2020. During the 11th Five-Year-Plan (FYP), the Chinese government has issued a series of polices to promote and regulate the development of wind power industry, which is the underlying force driving its rapid development. This paper is a systematical review on the current status and policies of wind power industry in China. Firstly the current status including achievements and shortcomings is presented, and then the relevant polices and regulations released during the period of 11th FYP are reviewed. Meanwhile, the main approaches of the policies and regulations in promoting the development of wind power industry are discussed and the issues of the current policies are analyzed. Finally, the paper concludes on the perspectives of wind power policies in China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Due to the stark reality of regional development disparities, China has to confront the sustainable development challenges brought about by social inequality. To compensate for these regional differences in natural resource endowments, effective investment in power grid infrastructure (PGI) and improvement of power grids might prove helpful in reducing poverty and narrowing the development gap. This paper constructs a “Peripheral Degree Index” (PDI) of power grid to measure the effective distance between electricity delivering areas and receiving regions. Moreover we discuss how to efficiently locate the investment in PGI and optimize the allocation of limited financial resources. The results show investment in PGI has higher marginal benefit for less developed provinces in energy delivering regions; and more importantly, improvement of the grid infrastructure in central areas which connect energy receiving and delivering regions. Particularly, to improve the grid facilities in the central areas could reduce electricity transmission cost and help to alleviate the railway strain for coal transportation. Therefore, our findings suggest that it is more advisable to locate the investment of power grid infrastructure in the central provinces that are located at strategic conjunctions of the nationwide power grid, including Shanxi, Henan, Hubei and Hebei. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State Grid Corporation of China and China Southern Power Grid Corporation put forward the vision of Smart Grid in 2009. Then China launched the second round of distribution automation system (DAS) project. This paper summarizes the DAS in this round, including the project planning, current development and related technical standard. The development situation and trend of feeder automation (FA) technology are focused. The various realization modes and test verification technology of FA are presented in details. With the integration of distributed generation to distribution grid, the trend of Advanced Distribution Automation (ADA) and other techniques such as optimizing operation and practicability of FA in China are introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to atmospheric pollution from fossil fuels, the reduction of wind turbine costs, and the rise of the low-carbon economy, wind energy conversion systems have become one of the most significant forms of new energy in China. Therefore, to reduce investment risk and maximize profits, it is necessary to assess wind resources before building large wind farms. This paper develops a comprehensive system containing four steps to evaluate the potential of wind resources at two sites in Xilin Gol League and at additional two sites in Alxa League of Inner Mongolia, China: (1) By calculating the total scores of three indexes, including the effective wind power density (EWPD), wind available time (WAT) and population density (PD), an indexes method is applied to assess the theoretical wind energy potential from 2001 to 2010. (2) To judge the fluctuations in the wind speed, the Fisher optimal partition method and the Jonckheere–Terpstra test are used to analyze the changes in the average monthly and yearly wind speeds from 2001 to 2010. (3) Three probability density functions, i.e., Weibull, Gamma and Lognormal, are used to assess the wind speed frequency distribution in 2010. To enhance the evaluation accuracy, three intelligent optimization parameter estimation algorithms, i.e., the particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO), differential evolution algorithm (DE) and ant colony algorithm (ACO), are used to estimate the parameters of these distributions. (4) It is helpful to analyze the wind characteristics when assessing wind resources and selecting wind turbines. Therefore, the optimal frequency distribution based on the best parameter estimation method can be chosen to calculate the wind power density, the most probable wind speed and the wind speed carrying the maximum energy. The experimental results show that Site 1 and Site 4 are more suitable for large wind farms than Site 2 or Site 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind power generation has increased rapidly in China over the last decade. In this paper the authors present an extensive survey on the status and development of wind power generation in China. The wind resource distributions in China are presented and assessed, and the 10 GW-scale wind power generation bases are introduced in details. The domestic research status of main components of WP system is then elaborated, followed by an evaluation of the wind power equipment manufacturers. Finally, the outlook for the development of the wind power utilization in China is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy is believed to be the central issue in sustainable development. Literatures on renewables׳ costs are rather sparse, especially on costs of integration and system balancing. The objective of this paper is to fill the research gap by providing an assessment for the cost of China׳s grid-connected renewable energy development and analyze its sharing between different stakeholders. Due to China׳s pricing mechanism of renewable energy and their cost decreasing potential, the pricing model of feed-in tariff and dynamic technological learning processes are employed. In the estimation of purchasing cost, the positive bias is overcome by considering China׳s energy-saving dispatching policy. The results suggest that purchasing cost would be 32.57–40.80 billion Yuan over 2012–2020, and peak in 2017. Grid integration costs which further involve costs of grid infrastructure and system balancing are also investigated. We find that grid infrastructure will cost 27.88 billion Yuan by 2015 and soar to 45.32 billion by 2020, while system balancing will cost 31.49 billion Yuan in 2015 and 63.97 billion Yuan in 2020 among which a substantial part (over 60%) comes from electricity loss in energy transfer. The different parts of these costs are underwritten by disparate participants due to China׳s renewable energy policies and its institutional arrangement. Purchasing cost is shared by power consumers through RES; the cost of grid infrastructure is mainly covered by grid enterprises; and there is no mechanism to specify how to share the cost electricity loss during system balancing which might become a major obstacle for system balancing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electric power industry is a typical industry with high energy consumption and high emissions in China. To relieve the increasing environmental pressures and promote the sustainable development of China’s economy and society, it is urgent to take actions to reduce energy consumption and pollution emissions of China’s electric power industry. In this paper, we first present an overview of the development status of China’s electric power industry, including the total power generating capacity and proportions of different power generation methods, the development of renewable energy power generation, as well as the average utilization hours of different power generation equipment. Then, the development of energy conservation and emissions reduction of China’s electric power industry is studied. The indicators of energy conservation include coal consumption for power supply, power consumption rate of power plants and comprehensive line loss rate; while the contents of emissions reduction include desulfurization, emissions control and the comprehensive utilization of solid waste. Finally, suggestions in five aspects to promote energy conservation and emissions reduction of China’s electric power industry are presented. The five suggestions are improving power generation technologies, expanding renewable energy power generation, optimizing power generation process, strengthening monitoring and regulation, and promoting power generation rights and emissions trading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As wind power resources are abundant, China’s wind power industry has entered a period of rapid growth since 2005, and constantly facing new challenges at the same time. In this paper, the general situation of China’s wind power resource and wind power industry development are introduced. On this basis, future development potential and target of wind power industry are analyzed combining with the recent introduction of the policy and the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan”. The main obstacles prevailing in the development such as grid integration, price mechanism, industry standard system, and supporting policies are discussed. In addition, strategy advice for promoting the further development of China’s wind power is proposed. In general, the development prospect of China’s wind power industry will be even brighter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the impact of China’s new energy policies on expected changes and volatility in new energy stock prices. Considering different kinds of policies (energy legislation, binding targets for new energies, economic incentives and technological research and development) and several new energy indexes (China’s new energy sector and the solar, wind, nuclear and lithium battery subsectors), we used a regression model with a GARCH specification and dummy variables to differentiate policy pre- and post-announcement effects on expected returns and volatility. Our evidence indicates that pre- and post-announcement energy legislation policies dampened price volatility in all subsector indexes and that economic incentives had a positive policy announcement effect on all subsector index prices. Other new energy policies had no significant impact on either the mean or the volatility of the new energy assets. The potential implications for policy makers and investors are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distributed generation (DG) units can provide approaches and methodologies for the utilization and development of renewable energy. Meanwhile, electricity pool (EP), as a mode which can adapt to China’s energy and power market, can effectively promote the market competition. After analyzing China’s energy and power market, this paper, combining characteristics of distributed generation units with electricity pool, proposes Base–Market–Assist (BMA) in the pool mode. BMA mode not only makes a rational division according to China energy resources’ endowment, but also utilizes agent operators to conduct operation management of distributed generation units, providing new methods for China renewable energy development in aspects of technology, market and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing biogas capacity is a key pillar in China’s rural sustainable development program. The very dynamic transition of the rural socio-economic platform on which the current biogas development strategy has been based will require significant adjustments in material, technology and supply. The changes of socio-economic status, the problems of resent state and prospects of rural biogas development in China, including fermentation material, fermentation technology, development model and comprehensive utilization of biogas, are discussed in this paper. The results of our analysis indicated the full use of straw as a raw material will be the direction of biogas development in China. Dry methane fermentation will become an important method in the large scale production of biogas from agricultural wastes. The central supply model is the future biogas development model in rural China. It is with broad market and great potential to produce commercial fertilizer from biogas residue. Using biogas to generate electricity has become a new and efficient way to use biogas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind power industry has experienced swift development and gradually moved towards maturity in China. However some hiding issues have appeared and threatened its sustainable development. In this paper, we employ the supply chain framework to present a thorough and comprehensive review on China׳s wind power industry. First we identify key stakeholders along the supply chain and discuss their concerns. Then we summarize the evolution of related policies in both upstream and downstream of the supply chain. The concerns of stakeholders and the existing policies will help understand the progress and challenges of the industry in China. We find that inability of independent technique innovation, unordered and unbalanced pattern of wind farm development, de-motivation of power grid companies, incompatible technical codes of power grid operation, and neglected demand response are among the key issues. Policy recommendations are proposed to address these problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, renewable energy plays a vital role in the sustainable development of a society. In China, renewable energy power has developed rapidly since the implementation of Renewable Energy Act. Through a series of specific incentive measures, especially subsidy policies, China's renewable energy power has made great achievements both in technology and application. Based on the state-of-the-art of renewable energy power, this paper comprehensively analyzed the costs and benefits of renewable energy power subsidy in China. The analysis results show the cost of renewable energy power subsidy was 0.248 CNY/kWh between 2006 and April 2011, which was distributed among different renewable energy power types (including wind power, biomass power, and solar PV power) or categories (including electricity price, accessing-grid projects, and public independent renewable energy power system). On the other hand, the renewable energy power subsidy also brings benefits to different aspects of the society. Specifically, the environmental benefit amounted to 17.88 billion CNY, and the benefits of guaranteeing energy security, advancing technology innovation and promoting economic development were also noteworthy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart grid is the direction of power system development and it has aroused wide attention. It is also the physical infrastructure to integrate renewable energy into the power system. In China power grid companies are the pioneer in developing smart grids. Propelled by strong demand, China has made encouraging progress in smart grid development, especially in the aspect of ultra-high voltage transmission system. However, in other aspects as distributed generation, microgrid and intelligent demand management etc., the progress is slow and limited. In this paper we analyze the policy, pilot projects, achievements and barriers of developing smart grids in China. We find that lack of a clear national strategy is one main institutional barrier. The current industrial structure of the electric power sector, or the vertical integration of power transmission with distribution and supply, is another institutional barrier. Finally we provide an outlook on smart grid development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All recent analyses acknowledge that environmental resources are in short supply and that it is on them that "carrying capacity" calculations ought to be based. For the specific case of the Chinese society, which is undergoing an unprecedented period of continuous growth, it seems therefore mandatory to alleviate the conflict between high-speed development and available resources. This paper analyzes the variation of the natural resources input into China during years 2000-2007 using the exergy and extended exergy socio-economic metric. Fluxes of materials, labor, capital and environmental remediation expenses were quantified by a numeraire solidly rooted on a second-law metric, so that a new mode of ecological accounting that quantifies both the composition and the proportion of the extended exergy flows can shed light on the total available energy input into the Chinese society. Two new indicators, labor production efficiency and net pro-capite exergy resource input, are proposed to depict the contribution of economic, social and environmental aspects to the usual four production factors and to express the conversion results in transferring efficiency and quantity from material energy to economic output. "Social" extended exergy analysis, applied to each one of the seven sectors of the society, is suggested as an effective method to reveal the energy quality degradation in the resource conversion process at both national and sectoral levels. The comparison of social resource accounting among different societies by using these two indicators may provide useful additional information to evaluate the production conversion coefficients, to assess the environmental impacts and to diagnose possible ecological dysfunctions. In addition, the extended exergy analysis of the Chinese society is helpful in uncovering the long-term resource depletion and promoting efficiency of the resource transformation in the social-economic-environmental system, thus providing a holistic method and a systematic view for decision makers responsible for environmental management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: It is highly significant for China to improve its development of wind power. In order to promote the sustainable development, a more comprehensive evaluation of factors affecting the effectiveness of investment in the industry wind power is required to be conducted to formulate a relatively stable policy supporting mechanism for the development of wind power. Based on the green accounting framework, this paper evaluates a typical wind power project from economic, environment and energy alternative respects comprehensively. We simulate the main factors influencing cost and benefit of the wind power investment with the Monte Carlo method. Finally, we discuss how to promote wind power with respect to the concern of government, investors and environmentalists. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Solar photovoltaic (PV) power is a new and green energy source. China has significant opportunities for solar energy utilization with its huge solar resource. The solar PV power in China has developed for 50 years, and experienced a rapid progress in the last 10 years. To address the needs of the fast growth of the PV power industry in China, it is critical to identify, analyze and understand the growth path and the characteristics of the industry. This paper summarizes the status of the solar energy resources and the development of the solar PV power industry in China, and puts forward the main factors that impacted the development of the industry. A study refers to the selected five main factors the factors are: technology research and development, industrial plans, laws and regulations, electricity price policies, and projects incentive policies. A multifaceted approach including literature survey, statistical data investigation, law review, and regulation and policy study are adopted to investigate these factors. Analysis of the typical events, the growth process and the characteristics of the five factors, allows the establishment of growth route models. The results can be a useful reference for the development of solar PV power industry in China and other countries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Wind energy, as a reliable, natural and renewable electrical power supply, produces no emissions and so it is an excellent alternative to conventional, more heavily polluting fuels in the long term based on the worldwide concern about the environment and energy supply. Wind energy resources in China are affluent, but its distribution are uneven, centralized, and far from both the utility and the high electricity demand markets. This made China''s onshore wind power development have such characteristics as large scale, high centralization and far transmission, which is different with that in Europe, where the characteristics are even distribution, decentralized. In past two decades, considering the economic, technical and environmental benefits of wind power, China has given priority to its development. Besides the dramatic growth of large scale grid-connected wind power, household-scale wind power has been used most successfully in remote rural regions in China. Therefore, the development of wind power will be of great importance to alleviate the energy crisis and environmental pollution resulting from the rapid economic growth of China in the future. In this paper, the current development of wind energy utilization in China is investigated, and some critical barriers are discussed. Finally, the perspective of wind energy utilization is presented, where focuses are placed on seven wind power bases. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]