Kickoff of Offshore Wind Power in China: Playoffs for China Wind Power Development

Abstract

Year 2010 is the significant year of offshore wind power development in China. The first national offshore wind power project is connected to the grid, and the first round of concession projects marks the strong support from central government. It is foreseeable that offshore wind power capacity in China will expand rapidly in the future, and the understanding pattern of it is crucial for analyzing the overall wind market in China and global offshore wind power development. This paper firstly provides an overview of global offshore wind power development, then in China, including historical installation, potential of resources, demonstration and concession projects, and target of development. Based on this, analysis on current policies related to offshore wind power and their implementation, current wind farm developers and turbine manufacturers of China's offshore wind industry is done. All the previous analysis generates complete evaluation of current status and some issues and trends of China offshore wind power development, based on which some policy recommendations for sustainable development of offshore wind power are made.