Wind enterprises embark on key upgrades

Over the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China expects to add roughly 1 TW of combined wind and solar capacity, with wind alone accounting for an estimated 400 GW of new installations.

Qin Haiyan, secretary-general of the Chinese Wind Energy Association, said that from January to August, China's above-scale industrial power generation exceeded 6.6 trillion kWh.

Wind power generated 719.6 billion kWh — a 3.3 percent increase year-on-year — constituting roughly 10 percent of the total societal electricity consumption, he said.

"By the end of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the country's cumulative wind capacity is expected to reach 1.3 TW, and wind power will account for around 15 percent of total national power generation," Qin projects.

Despite these impressive metrics, industry leaders acknowledge that the sector is navigating significant structural headwinds as it transitions from a niche alternative to a mainstream power provider.

Liang Zhipeng, director of the renewable energy professional committee at the China Energy Research Society, said that while the construction costs of wind power are now highly competitive with traditional coal generation, further capacity expansion faces major systemic bottlenecks.

In addition to the grid absorption capacity, which has been limiting the space for renewable energy to permanently displace fossil fuels, the overall security of China's power supply still relies heavily on coal for baseload support, which naturally restricts the dispatch priority for renewables, he said.

"As renewable projects increasingly participate in spot-market electricity trading, financial yields have dropped sharply, weakening the developmental drive for new capital investments," he added.

A growing commercial mismatch, in which industrial consumers have a rising demand for green energy to meet decarbonization goals while expecting low-cost electricity, further complicates the industry's ability to effectively monetize the "green premium" of zero-carbon power, he added.

Pan echoed these concerns, acknowledging that while the industry is booming, it faces tightening supply chain factors and an undervaluation of green environmental attributes.

Solving these interconnected issues, Liang stressed, requires synchronized innovations across grid technology, business models and regulatory pricing mechanisms.

To break these bottlenecks and bypass grid constraints, the NEA recommends pivoting away from standalone wind farms toward multi-energy complementary systems.

Zhang Lin, director of the planning and development department at the China Electricity Council, emphasized that converting electricity into green hydrogen, ammonia and methanol (often referred to as Power-to-X) is crucial for expanding renewable energy consumption beyond the traditional power grid.

"Generating green hydrogen, ammonia and methanol transforms intermittent wind and solar resources into stable, highly tradable green products," Zhang said. "These derivatives serve as both clean fuels and vital basic chemical raw materials, effectively extending the value of renewable energy from simple electricity products into the lucrative realm of green chemicals."

Simultaneously, leading enterprises are tackling grid volatility head-on through advanced energy storage.

Envision Energy, a prominent Chinese provider of green technology, has accelerated the deployment of its AI-enabled wind-storage turbines, positioning itself as a comprehensive systems solutions provider amid the sector's crucial transition period.

Unlike traditional models where wind turbines and utility-scale batteries are merely co-located on the same site, Envision's approach involves deep coupling at the hardware, control and software levels. This deep integration allows the system to share critical components such as transformers, reducing overall construction costs by roughly 10 percent while potentially boosting wind farm revenue by over 20 percent through optimized, AI-driven power dispatching.

Huang Hu, vice-president of Envision's wind turbine and equipment product platform, emphasized that the transition of renewable energy from a "supplementary" source to a "primary" power source requires unprecedented reliability.

"The biggest challenge for renewable energy to become a primary power source is its inherent volatility," Huang said. "To ensure a reliable power supply during peak demand periods — even when there is no wind or sunlight — energy storage must be deeply integrated into the system's DNA."

As China overcomes these domestic hurdles through technological and business model innovations, its prowess is reshaping the global landscape.

Qin noted that Chinese wind power equipment has already been deployed across more than 150 countries. The cumulative export volume has reached 28 GW, boasting a remarkable compound annual growth rate of over 40 percent.

"In the coming years, China's wind power equipment and integrated system solutions will play an increasingly vital role in assisting nations worldwide to achieve their energy transition goals," Qin said. "As the industry evolves from exporting hardware to exporting holistic, reliable energy ecosystems, China's wind sector is firmly securing its position as the indispensable engine of the zero-carbon future."

zhengxin@chinadaily.com.cn