China’s Goldwind Expanding in U.S. as Rivals Cut Back

The second largest wind turbine manufacturer in China is picking up market share in the US. The article attributes this gain to a failure of the US government to extend an otherwise soon-to-expire production tax credit on wind energy. Indirectly, the article also suggests that Goldwind's turbines may be increasingly competitive with established turbine makers like Vestas and GE.

What I found interesting was the apparent multinationality of the company's operations and manufacturing. The towers and a majority of the blades come from US companies, and the company hosts a research and development team in Germany.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-19/goldwind-buys-two-10-megawatt-montana-wind-farms-from-volkswind.html

China Lets Natural Gas Price Rise

I thought this was interesting particularly after what we learned in class today about how Natural Gas is the slowest growing energy resource in China. One of the barriers to growth is that the artificially low Natural Gas prices deter domestic exploration and production. This article from the Wall Street Journal briefly discusses some of most recent the Natural Gas price reform.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204296804577124371423865252.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

-Daniela Hamann-Nazaroff

China's growing pace slows down

Although China's economic growth rate slightly dropped, it is an early concern of the new year for the countries leader. China's successful boom has been mainly due to investments and foreign exports that are now dwindling because of inflation and debt. Experts say that China need to implement more sustainable means of growth even if it is at slower rates. As the story develops it would be interesting to see the effects of the economy on the energy sector as investments and exports give way to more domestic markets growth.


< http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16588410 >

Trade-offs of Entering China Wind Turbine Market

This article is an oldie but a goodie. It describes some of the difficulties that companies outside China face when entering Chinese markets, in this instance the wind turbine market. Gamesa, the new entrant, took a big dive into the Chinese market in the early days of China's wind boom. Then in 2005 Chinese officials imposed very stringent domestic production requirements for turbines (an "open secret" violation of W.T.O. rules). Gamesa opted to invest significant resources in training and supporting wind turbine component suppliers in China, who were then able to sell to domestic manufacturers as well. In very short order, Gamesa was undercut by domestic turbine makers on price, due in part to the manufacturing capacity that they had helped create. Ultimately, though, Gamesa was still able to keep a small piece of such a huge "market pie," that it made financial sense.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/business/global/15chinawind.html?pagewanted=all

"China Increases Target for Wind Power Capacity to 1,000 GW by 2050"

China has increased its target for installed wind power capacity to 1,000 GW by 2050 (from ~40 GW today).  This is an astounding number and speaks both to their initiative and the competitiveness of wind power as an energy resource.  This will require an RMB 12 trillion (~$1.9 trillion USD) investment and is expected to provide around 17% of China's energy needs from wind power in 2050 according to the Center for Renewable Energy Development of the Energy Research Institute (part of the NDRC).

Here is the link to the full article:


http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/01/china-increases-target-for-wind-power-capacity-to-1000-gw-by-2050


Enjoy!


Aaron

Steel Bars and the Prisoner's Dilemma

The Financial Times recently ran an interesting article on the non-participation of Chinese steel manufacturers in an international voluntary emissions reporting scheme sponsored by the World Steel Association (WSA).  The collaboration is aimed at improving energy efficiency across the industry (and as the hope went, thereby helping to ward off costly regulation). However, several Chinese producers were concerned that release of their company data would reveal trade secrets and potentially harm their competitiveness; consequently, both they and all of their compatriot competitors are declining to participate in the scheme.  Since China produces nearly half of the world's steel, the data omission severely undermines the project's usefulness. As an added twist, the current head of the WSA is also the president of one of those Chinese producers that is now deciding not to cooperate, despite previous expressions of support.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6e0b700a-3238-11e1-b4ba-00144feabdc0.html

While interesting by itself, I think the case also illustrates some of the challenges posed by economic and geopolitical factors, which act as barriers to international agreement and collective action on energy problems which necessarily span borders.  The degree to which energy use is intertwined with both a) international markets and global externalities in the aggregate, and b) relative national economic growth, development, and security objectives means that there will always be a constant tension between competition and cooperation in the energy space.

First Solar Deal in Inner Mongolia "Fizzles"

Hey all,

An interesting update to the First Solar project in Ordos, Inner Mongolia that we were able to hear first hand about from the project manager last spring.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/12/AR2010081203201.html

See you on campus in a few weeks!

Elaine