China wind power 2013: market growth stable, faces grid shortage

China Wind Power 2013 -- the country's largest wind power fair -- opened in Beijing Wednesday.

Clean energy is expected to take up over a half of our energy consumption by 2050 in. And wind energy is proving to be the cheapest among all green energy options. China has the world's largest wind power installation capacity, and clean energy is set to make up 15 percent of total electricity production by 2020. It's no surprise international wind energy firms want a slice of the market.

Ceo Of Windsim, Norway, John Olaf Romma, says that Chinese market is a corner stone.

Business has been good for the world's biggest wind turbine maker in China, but competition is getting stiffer.

Chinese state-owned firms say the technology gap is narrowing.

Sun Lixiang, Deputy General Manager of Guodian United Power Technology Co., says, "In 2004, foreign companies accounted for 90 percent of the Chinese market, but after years of development we have caught up in market share."

2013 has been a tough year for the global wind power industry. Growth in the U.S and Europe have been sluggish, making emerging economies such as China even more important to western companies. However, they are not only facing severe local competition, but also mounting pressure from a shortage of electricity grid.

Not being able to transmit from wind farms to the power grid network is a big issue. Last year China's idle wind capacity stood at 17 percent due to difficulties in transmission, especially from remote areas in the Northwest, to big cities in central and the east of China. Experts are calling for an system upgrade.

Shi Dinghuan, Counsellor Of The State Council, says, "We built many wind power plants in a rush, but there is a lack of systematic planning for electricity grid facilities. So this has made wind energy transmission difficult. We should give more priority to clean energy to connect to the grid, rather than other types of power that produce high pollution "

Changes are being made -- the National Renewable Energy Centre expects China's idled wind capacity to fall to 12 per cent this year, after the government lowered the hurdle in transmitting wind power to the national grid. There's also been a slowdown in wind farm construction.