Wind Power|Wind Power Energy

“We were originally expecting the full 120 million Yuan to be disbursed earlier and all at once, which would have enabled us to complete our 49.5 MW Phase II wind farm,” said Mr. Jun Liu, Chief Executive Officer, China Wind Power. “In 2011, China increased the requirements on bank reserves. Accordingly, banks increased their loan interest by adding a premium on the prime rate and gave priority to higher interest loans in order to maintain their earnings. We are fortunate that we still managed to obtain this loan at the prime rate without a premium. However, the Bank only disbursed 50 million Yuan before the end of the calendar year. While we expect to receive the remaining 70 million Yuan any day now, this has unfortunately pushed back our timeline for completing Phase II.”

The Company confirms that the remaining 13 turbines required for the 49.5 MW wind turbines farm have been assembled in the supplier’s warehouse awaiting delivery. Contingent on the timing of the final disbursement from the Bank, the Company now expects to complete Phase II by spring of this year.

The timing of the final loan disbursement and the delay in completing Phase II do not have any impact on the construction of the Company’s 198 MW Phase III wind project. Phase III is being constructed under more favourable financial terms through an engineering, procurement and construction contract with a different turbine supplier than Phase II. Foundations have been laid for all 132 turbines at Phase III, with construction expected to be completed by the end of June 2012.

About China Wind Power International Corp.

China Wind Power International Corp. is an Ontario company that is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for wind power in China. The Company indirectly holds the wind generator exclusive rights for wind energy development in Du Mon County, Heilongjiang Province, which has a demonstrated potential installed capacity of 1,150 MW of wind energy developable over an area of 612 square km. While 1,150 MW represents the Company’s long-term potential for wind power in the area, its current plans are for building out approximately 800 MW over five development phases. The Company’s common shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “CNW”. The Company has approximately 63.9 million shares outstanding.

China’s National Energy Bureau (NEB) is drafting new regulations to standardize the examination and approval of small wind farm projects, industry sources said.

According to the rules, estimated to be promulgated in the first half of this year, local governments must first win approval of the NEB before they give licenses to wind farm projects that are smaller than 50MW each.

This move will cool down China’s wind power industry that has become overheated in recent years, industry experts said.

At present, China’s local governments have the power to approve wind farm projects smaller than 50MW each in installed capacity, after they put the projects on record with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Wind farm projects larger than 50MW each shall be approved by the NDRC.

To have their projects approved by local governments, which are easier and faster than the approval of the central government, some wind farm operators segment their wind farm projects into multiple stages, with each smaller than 50MW. As a result, China has countless 49.5MW wind farms across the country.
To date, only about 10 percent of the 60GW china wind turbines farm projects reported by local governments are examined and approved by the NDRC.

Those projects not approved by the NDRC will possibly not be included in the national plan for grid-access. It is one of the important reasons why the grid and wind farms do not develop in harmony.

Since they are not brought into the overall development plans of the grid, many wind farms approved by local governments have to put wind turbines generator idle from time to time.

China has launched its largest intertidal wind farm.

The pilot offshore wind farm in Rudong county, Jiangsu province, by Longyuan Power, China’ s largest wind power developer “will lead the way for China to develop offshore wind power, particularly in site selection, planning and design, installation and maintenance,” said Longyuan General Manager Xie Changjun, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Construction on the facility began in June 2009 with a $397 million investment for the 150-megawatt first phase, expected to be completed in March.

In the launch, 99.3 megawatts were connected to the grid.

Rudong’s intertidal wind farm will generate 330 million kilowatts of electric power for the grid, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 267,000 tons and sulfur dioxide by 1,940 tons while saving 97,000 tons of standard coal, Longyuan Jiangsu Offshore Wind Power says.

Intertidal refers to areas that are above water at low tide and under water at high tide.

So far the 102-megawatt Shanghai East Sea Bridge Offshore Wind Farm is China’s only other commercial-scale offshore wind facility, operating since June 2010.

China has a great potential for offshore wind turbines, up to 750 gigawatts, or three times that of onshore wind resources, says China Meteorological Administration, with industrial centers on the eastern and southern coasts showing the greatest promise.

China leads the way on wind energy installations, Lucintel says, projected to grow from 44.7 GW of installed wind power capacity to 230 GW by 2020. That’s in line with reports that China aims to have wind power as the source of 17 percent of its electricity production by 2050.
The U.S. is second in line for new wind energy installations, expected to reach 180 GW by 2020. Portugal, France, Italy, the U.K., Ireland and the Netherlands will also steadily add installations over the next five years, Lucintil says.
Growth in the wind turbine market also promises increased demand for composites to make the wind turbine blades. Lucintel projects steady growth for composite consumption in the wind market to reach $5.5 billion by 2016.

The U.S. companies are asking for countervailing duties equal to the difference between imported tower prices and the normal value of the product in the exporting country — 64.37 percent for Chinese towers and 59.11 percent for Vietnamese towers.

The complaint covers metal towers that hold wind turbines aloft, not the actual turbines or blades.

Thursday’s complaint is the latest wrinkle in a trade war that began in November when U.S. solar panel manufactures led by Hillsboro-based SolarWorld Industries America asked for a similar investigation and countervailing duties against Chinese manufacturers of solar cells. SolarWorld’s law firm, Wiley Rein, is also representing the wind tower manufacturers.

The Chinese have since launched their own investigations of U.S.-based makers of solar, hydro and wind-energy goods, with an eye toward imposing tariffs on U.S. exports to China.

A coalition of Chinese companies is also reportedly seeking a separate investigation into U.S. producers of polysilicon, a raw material used to make solar cells, for dumping product in China windgenerator below cost.

This newest petition was filed by Texas-based Trinity Structural Towers, DMI Industries of Fargo, North Dakota, Wisconsin-based Broadwind Towers Inc., and Katana Summit of Nebraska.

Vestas, a Danish home wind  turbine manufacturer that has its U.S. headquarters in Portland, produces wind towers in Colorado. But a spokeswoman said Vestas had not seen and was not part of the complaint.

China had more than 80 wind turbines makers as of 2010, capable of producing over 40 Gigawatts, yet wind equipment demand is expected to be just 15 GW a year.

And companies looking overseas to fuel their growth are met by funding bottlenecks in Europe and the United States that are likely to mean a decline in orders.

At home, Beijing has taken action to rein in overcapacity – implementing stricter technical standards for wind turbine production, tightening approvals for new wind generators farms and suspending connections of certain wind projects.

Those government moves to cool the sector have already dented profits at China’s top companies, including Sinovel Wind Group and Xinjiang Goldwind Science and Technology . Earnings at several firms nearly halved in the first half of this year.

“The worst isn’t over for these guys,” said Min Li, head of alternative energy at Yuanta Securities. “Massive oversupply and a slowdown in wind turbine orders will keep margins depressed for a couple more years.”

Macquarie analyst Patrick Dai said he expected Goldwind’s revenue to decline at an annualized rate of 3 percent from 2011 to 2013.

“Oversupply and soft demand conditions are unlikely to improve significantly in 2012, which suggests that pricing pressure should persist in the next 12 months,” he said.

Chinese wind turbine generator makers’ global share had been expanding along with China’s rise as the biggest wind power market last year.

Seven Chinese companies, including Dongfang Electric and China Ming Yang Wind Power Group, were among the world’s top 15 in 2010, according to Make Consulting, a specialist in the wind power industry.

China is on track to install 15 GW of wind power capacity annually through 2020, down from about 19 GW added last year, according to the Chinese Wind Energy Association.

China’s Guohua Energy Investment Co. has agreed to buy 75% stakes in two of Australia’s biggest wind farms for A$88.6 million, placing a bet on the country’s renewable energy sector just weeks after controversial carbon tax legislation was passed by parliament.

Bloomberg News
Guohua, a unit of China’s state-owned coal giant Shenhua Group, is acquiring interests in the 65-megawatt Bluff Point and 75-megawatt Studland Bay wind farms in northwest Tasmania state from renewable energy producer Hydro Tasmania.

Australia has up to now been a laggard in using renewable energy use compared to other developed countries, such as Spain and Germany, as investors struggled to turn a profit on early projects that were competing for customers with generators of electricity produced from burning cheaply available thermal coal.

At the end of the 2008-2009 financial year, the last complete data available from the Australian government, renewable energy accounted for around 7% of total electricity generation in the country. Of this, wind energy contributed 1.5% to total power output.

However, this is set to increase sharply as Australia’s government has set a target of having 20% of electricity supply coming from renewable energy sources like wind power by 2020. To achieve this goal, it has introduced policies that mandate electricity retailers to buy a proportion of their sales from renewable energy sources.

At the same time, Australia is also preparing to impose a tax on some of the country’s biggest coal producers and users in an effort to cut pollution. The levy will be charged at a fixed price of 23 Australian dollars (US$23.50) per carbon ton from the country’s top 500 polluters starting July 2012.

In a statement Thursday, Hydro Tasmania small wind turbines said the deal with Guohua values the two wind farms at Woolnorth at A$282 million. The company will retain the remaining 25% interests in both projects.

In comparison to terrestrial wind parks, offshore wind energy is still developing. But bi-yearly conferences, such as the German American Offshore Conference, held October 18 in New Jersey, attract German companies to the United States for networking and showcasing their wares.

Germany’s own handful of offshore wind farms, including Alpha Ventus, opened April 2010 in the North Sea, and Baltic 1, which opened in May 2011 in the Baltic Sea, have set the stage for future expansion.

But in Germany, “the offshore sector is not completely open yet,” Dietmar Schültz, president of the German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE) said in Berlin at the 2011 annual renewable energy conference.

Strict zoning laws – German offshore wind generator parks must be located at least 30 kilometres from shore – and limited space have caused energy leaders to look elsewhere for expansion possibilities.

“In the US, we’re getting closer to building a market, and the German companies also recognize that,” Allen said.

Siemens, attempting to insure its industry-leading position in offshore wind power generators development, has already secured contracts with Cape Wind, the premier US-offshore wind project off the coast of Nantucket in Massachusetts, to provide turbine equipment and with Deepwater Wind, a planned project near Block Island, Rhode Island.

“The offshore market is also beginning to materialize in the US. Greater research and interest is developing in the northeast region,” Albenze said. “We believe wind is here to stay and are confident in the long-term outlook of the renewable energy market in the US.”

Alstom’s new ECO 122 2.7MW model is a combination of its products and large-capacity high-power technology, specifically designed for low wind speed region developed. The model for the fan speed 7.5m / s wind energy can be converted up to 42%, equivalent to 3600 hours per year full-power generation.

ECO 122 model rotor diameter of 122 meters, the wind swept area of ​​11,700 square meters, is 2.0MW to 3.0MW-class models in the largest, to maximize access to wind energy. ECO 122 wind farms in order to make the fan less production than it is now 1.5 – 2.0MW models 25 percent more power. As an example, in a typical low-speed zone, 6 1.5 – 2.0MW wind turbine produce electricity 40GWh / year, while the five ECO 122 wind turbine generator can produce electricity more than 50GWh / year.

And 1.5 – 2.0MW models compared, ECO 122 model from the infrastructure, platform and roads, less wiring, etc. reduced by 10% to 15% of production costs.

Alstom ECO 100 ECO 122 is a series of new products, since 2008, the series has been built and installed capacity 350MW, run more than 20 million hours. ECO 122 for the first time fans will be installed in mid-2012, is expected to be delivered in early 2013.

Alstom existing 1.67MW to 3.0MW series wind turbine, the new 6.0MW wind turbines being developed production.

Siemens has joined forces with Shangai Electric to help advance wind power technology in the world’s most populous nation.

The two companies signed a deal yesterday that will see them pool resources to jointly research, develop, and produce new technologies specifically for the Chinese wind market. The companies have worked together in the past, providing turbines for an offshore Chinese wind farm earlier this year, and Siemens currently operates a turbine blade production facility in Shanghai. Overall, Siemens has been operating in China wind turbines for 139 years.

The deal will also see Siemens and Shanghai Electric working together to improve the state of wind technology sales, marketing, and service in the country. With both ventures, Shanghai Electric will have a 51 percent stake in operations and Siemens 49 percent.

“Our target is to become one of the world’s leading suppliers of wind turbines,” Siemens’ Michael Suess said, calling China “the world’s most important wind power market.”

As of 2010, China had an overall wind power capacity of 44,733 MW, putting it ahead of the United States as the world’s largest wind power market.