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Abstract The recent recurrence of wind curtailment in China underscores the rigidity and vulnerability of China's electricity regulatory regime. Using the theory of "fragmented authoritarianism", this paper identifies key institutional barriers causing wind curtailment in China and develops a framework for analyzing China's electricity regulatory regime. Specifically, the fragmented institutional authorities and responsibilities lead to departmentalism and coordination problems, both vertically and horizontally. The resulting mismatches in the investment, generation, and distribution of the electric power sector reflect direct causes for China's wind curtailment. This paper recommends that an electric power system reform with established regional spot markets is needed to fix China's wind curtailment problem. Highlights • Complex reasons lie behind serious wind curtailment in China. • Wind curtailment has its roots in the electricity regulation regime of China. • Fragmented authority causes coordination problems in the power sector. • Mismatches permeates the investment, generation and distribution of power. • A regional power spot market is needed to fix the wind curtailment problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic wind turbine manufacturing sector in China has experienced development stages starting from scratch to mass production. During the 11th FYP period (2006–2010), the main goal of wind power policy in China is to promote the commercialization of wind power by large-scale deployment of wind farms. This goal has been realized to a great extent and now the cost of wind power generation is nearly comparable to coal-fired power generation in China. The industry policy, which devotes to mass production of domestic wind turbines, is also largely successful. The purpose of the paper is to provide an overview on wind turbine manufacturing sector in China. The policy evolution in different stages, achievements and challenges pertinent to the sector are addressed in the paper. Key findings are that the misleading industry policy, which provides strong incentive to blind entrance and “competition for scale and price” and restrains innovation as well, is the key obstacle for the sustainable development of the sector. Deficient technology standard and qualification system and the misplaced franchise bidding system also indulge vicious competition and oversupply. Creating a level playground for all turbine supplies, providing strong incentive to innovative manufacturers, establishing thorough and practicable standard and qualification system, and fine-tuning the directive of the franchise bidding system towards technology and service are the primary policy implications proposed by our study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: During 2010 and 2011, China had been the largest producer of wind turbines in the world for two consecutive years. How China can transform from being the largest producer to being the strongest producer of wind turbines is currently a great concern in the industry. The purpose of this paper is to discuss this issue from the perspective of the international competitiveness of China''s wind turbine manufacturing industry. Firstly, the paper establishes a model for evaluating the international competitiveness of wind turbine manufacturing industry, which consists of five first-level indexes and 10 second-level indexes. Then, the paper uses these indexes to evaluate the international competitiveness of six leading wind turbine companies in the world—Vestas (Denmark), Gamesa (Germany), GE Wind (the USA), Nordex (Spain), Suzlon (India) and Sinovel (China). The result shows that the international competitiveness of the Chinese wind turbine company, Sinovel, ranked the fifth, lagging behind Vestas, Gamesa, GE Wind and Suzlon. Finally, the paper makes in-depth analysis on the major factors that hamper the international competitiveness of China''s wind turbine manufacturing industry and provides implications for future development of the industry. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

China is the largest power producer and consumer and has the largest installed capacity of wind turbines (WTs) worldwide. In the last two decades, China's installed capacity of WTs has exploded, significantly impacting its wind power (WP) industry and promoting the development of the industry globally. This paper examines China as one part of the world and elucidates its role, status, and impact on global WP development from a global perspective. Research indicates that China has become the global leader in WP, its WP development has greatly promoted the growth rate of global WP, and it has become an indispensable force in global WP development. However, the comprehensive capability of China's WP generation is not only lower than that of other major WP countries but also lower than the global average. China's WTs have low global recognition and are difficult to export. In addition, the proportion of WP in China's power structure is lower than that of most other major WP countries. Fortunately, these gaps between China and other major WP countries are gradually narrowing. The goal of this paper is to help researchers and investors better understand China's situation and to provide a reference for the rational investment in and development of China's WP. • China has become a global wind power leader, but only in the installed capacity. • China's wind turbines have low recognition in global, and difficult to export. • Comprehensive capability of China's wind power is lower than that of global average. • Currently, China's wind power mainly wins in terms of quantity rather than quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The installed capacity of wind turbines in China increased rapidly in the past 10 years. Against the backdrop of growing wind turbine capacity, the failure of wind turbines is becoming increasingly serious. Based on the three primary configurations and failure statistics analysis of wind turbines in China, this paper summarizes the failures of wind turbine components, such as frequency converters, generators, gearboxes, pitch systems, yaw systems, blades, braking systems and sub-synchronous machines. Although there are many failure types and various causes, we can deduce four primary reasons for these failures: lack of core technologies; inferior quality due to price competition; design standards and wind farm climate differences; and no mandatory quality certification and exterior factors, such as wind farm construction, power grids and maintenance. Finally, while aiming to improve the reliability, a reliability management method with regard to the design, manufacturing and maintenance of wind turbines was proposed. [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]

Abstract: In recent years, wind power industry has been flourishing and in China the focus has been gradually shifted from land-based to offshore wind farms. There are many advantages for offshore wind farms, such as abundant wind energy reserves, high utilization of the wind turbine capacity, not taking up land resources and so on. As wind turbine technology improves, offshore wind farms have been expanding quickly and are located further away from the onshore grid. The power transmission problem has become one of the key issues for restricting the development of offshore wind farms. For example, the technology of high voltage direct current transmission based on voltage source converter (VSC-HVDC), suitable for long-distance transmission of offshore wind energy, has become one of the current research focuses. This has resulted in higher requirements on the aspects of converter voltage level, system dynamic performance, and network power quality. The paper first discusses converter topology for offshore wind farm grid integration. Two VSC-HVDC projects for connecting offshore wind farms, which are located in Shanghai and Dalian of China, are presented in detail. Based on the two projects, the structure, control methods and application of modular multi-level converter are presented. The control strategies of VSC-HVDC are then discussed, focusing on double closed-loop vector control, direct power control, deadbeat control and the control methods for unbalanced grid voltage. This can provide good theoretical foundation for the grid integration of large offshore wind farms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Climate change and limited primary energy resources require indigenous renewable electricity generation options to change the current coal-dominated power source matrix in China. The wind power is such a solution for the above challenges, and it still has large space for improvement in China. In this paper several critical factors related to Chinese wind power were studied in details, including the wind resources, the wind turbine industry and the policies from the Chinese government. Based on the study, the perspective of wind power in China was discussed. With outstanding advantages, the offshore wind power has a bright future in China, so its main characteristics are discussed. Based on the discussions, suggestions were given to improve the development of Chinese wind power, and the government''s further measures are also recommended. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper examines the current situation of wind industry development, evaluates the potentials of GHG mitigation and identifies the key determinants of scaling up wind power deployment in China. China has doubled its wind capacity every year for the past 4 years, the total installed capacity reached 12 Gigawatts (GW) and surpassed the 10-GW target 2 years ahead of schedule in the national plan for renewable energy development ,and would reach 100–120GW by 2020 according to the government’s new energy plan. It may become the biggest wind power generation and wind turbines manufacturing country of the world in the next years if the abundant wind resources and enormous domestic market can be harnessed with appropriate policies and efficient technology. The recent positive move in vigorous development of wind power in China implies that the total installed capacity will far exceed the targets of the government’s 2007 renewable energy plan. However, the prosperous Chinese wind market has also revealed some worrisome signals and weakness , such as low capacity factor and frequent outage of wind farms, inadequate grid infrastructure, long distance transmission, low quality of turbines, adverse price bidding, nepotism in wind farm developer selection process and regulatory uncertainty and policy inconsistency which all conspire to hinder effective power generation in the massively new installed wind capacities. A coherent policy framework is required for creating enabling environment for accelerating wind energy penetration and state-of-art technology deployment in the country. It is argued that institutional, financial and technical capacity will need to be cemented to exploit the huge potentials of wind resources to meet the rapidly growing demand for electricity in China in the coming decades with minimised environmental implications. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In order to mitigate global climate change and air pollution, the Chinese government has assigned high priority to expanding low-carbon power generation in China. Recent studies have shown that wind power is one of the most promising renewable energy option in China. Although many studies have estimated the generation potential of onshore wind power, their results vary widely from 1783 TWh to 39,000 TWh. Therefore, we examine the different assumptions in these papers and identify three main factors influencing the results. The three influencing factors are: weather data set, land utilisation factor, and wind turbine configuration. For our model-based analysis, we define a reference scenario which is used to compare the results. Our analysis shows using a different weather data set increases the generation potential to roughly 35,000 TWh. This is 54% higher than the generation potential of the reference scenario. The land utilisation factor also has a large influence, ranging between −10% and −51%. The studies' assumptions and data should be subjected to careful scrutiny, as the calculated wind power potentials are widely used to develop decarbonisation strategies for the energy system. • Study results on wind power potentials in China vary from 1783 TWh to 39,000 TWh • Influencing factors: weather data set, land utilisation, and wind turbine configuration. • Model-based sensitivity analysis with nine scenario settings. • Chosen weather data set has the highest impact on the calculated results with a variation of 54%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]