Wind overtakes nuclear power in China

Wind farms generated 2% more electricity than nuclear power plants in 2012.

The government expects this gap to widen dramatically over the next few years as wind surges ahead. Since 2007, wind’s has grown by a massive 80% per year compared to the 10% growth by nuclear power.

Wind developers connected 19,000 megawatts of wind power capacity to the grid in 2011 and 2012 and are expected to add about this much in 2013.

The government is also moving to solve the inability of China’s underdeveloped electrical grid to fully accommodate the increasing numbers of wind turbines in remote, wind-rich areas. Last year, 80% of China’s 75,600 MW of wind capacity were grid-connected.

China is expected to easily meet its official target of 100,000 MW of grid-connected wind capacity by 2015. The Chinese Renewable Energy Industry Association sees wind installations soaring to at least 200,000 MW by 2020.

China has seven massive Wind Base mega-complexes now under construction in six provinces that will produce 138,000 MW when completed in 2020.