Assessing the Growth and Future Prospect of Wind Power in China

Wind power is a clean renewable energy source. Most countries are placing considerable faith in wind energy as an important and effective power technology for sustainable energy supply, thus providing particularly strong support to promote its development. China has abundant wind resources with a total theoretical wind power potential of 2, 200 GW. Developing wind power is of great importance to alleviate the energy crisis and environmental pollution resulting from the rapid economic growth of China in the 21st century. Recently, wind power in China registered a record level of expansion, and has doubled its total capacity every year since 2004. Many experts believe that China will be central to the future of the global wind energy market. This paper presented an overview of wind energy potential in China and reviewed the national wind power development in detail. The future prospect of wind energy development in China is analyzed. Its near future looks bright and the market will continue to develop at an ever-expanding rate foreseen for the next several years.