China adds around 100 GW of Electric Power Capacity each year to meet the growing energy demands of its population.Most of it is thermal power which is becoming costlier besides the dangerous disadvantages of coal.China has been trying to increase its hydro and nuclear power capacity,but nuclear energy has recived a setback with Fukushima.Solar Power in China is also increasing but it will take time as well to satisfy the electricity deficit.China is already the largest wind power market in the world installing almost 50% of the wind capacity in 2010.It intends to keep up the furious pace of wind turbine installations at around 25 GW per year for the next 35 years to reach 1000 GW by 2050.China already has around 7 of the top 15 wind turbine producers.However a vicious price war has thrown a lot of the wind producers into bankruptcy.
Cheap Financing by massive state owned Chinese Banks like Chiina Development Bank (CDB),China Construction Bank etc is being used as a strategic weapon to push Chinese renewable energy exports.Note cheap financing has always been used by big nations like Japan and USA to push exports by their domestic companies.United States EXIM Bank has been financing solar projects in India at very cheap interest rates to help First Solar sells its Solar Panels.Similarly China too has started using the huge balance sheet of its state owned banks to push its large green companies.Note CDB has extended almost $35 billion in credit lines to big Chinese solar companies like Suntech,Trina,Yingli,LDK and others.These credit lines can be used by renewable energy companies to finance the projects of their customers.Note Chinese Banks had bankrolled massive power equipment purchases in India being made by Dongfang and Shanghar Electric Groups.
The Chinese Wind Industry has around 80 wind turbine companies many of which are quite small and don’t’ have the money and expertise to compete in the international markets.Though the Chinese dominate the top global wind turbine companies list with 7 of the top 15 WTG companies Chinese,many are not competitive.Sinovel which has become the largest wind turbine company has recently canceled order for Electrical Control Systems from American Superconductor citing high inventory.Other Wind Turbine companies are in even more trouble as the industry suffers from huge overcapacity.The Chinese Wind Capacity has grown at 100% CAGR to reach 18 GW in 2010.However this strong growth has led to saturation of the wind market and price wars are being seen in China.Exports to other countries have been difficult as the cost of transportation of Wind Turbines is high.Besides Chinese Wind Companies don’t possess strong technology and quality unlike established ones like Vestas,Gamesa,GE and Siemens.Though Dongfang and Shanghai Electric have managed to win some Turbine Orders in India,the export percentage is negligible.Wind Power in India too has reached a stable growth level and a number of wind companes in India are fighting for marketshare as well.
China Wind Power Market has become the biggest in the world with more than 18 GW of capacity installed in one single year Note China has managed to double its capacity each year since 2005 and at the end of 2010 Wind Capacity totalled 44 GW which makes China the biggest Wind Power country in the world overtaking the USA.China has now got 7 of the Top 15 Global Wind Turbine Manufacturers and 2 of the Top 3 WTG Companies.China’s Massive Demand for Energy has made power plants mushroom in the country where more than 70% of the electricity is met by Coal.Wind Energy still forms only a small part of the power mix at less than 7% of the total power capacity and serves only a fraction of the Kwh of electricity given the lower load factor of Wind Power.Note Wind Power has grown in China as its Advantages as a Clean Source of Energy far outweigh its Cons.However the rapid demand growth has made a top inevitable as a country can only install that many megawatts in a year.
American Superconductor (AMSC) which is one of the top rated wind stock in the US crashed by more than 40% as its largest customer AMSC is mainly a seller wind turbine core electrical components and full wind turbine electrical control systems (ECS).It has also made pilot sales of high capacity super conducting equipment to some customer like Tres Amigas.Sinovel which is also the 2nd biggest Wind Power Company in the world refused to take contracted shipments of wind turbine core electrical components and spare parts.The reason given was high inventory levels but the company failed to explain why Sinovel which is a multi billion dollar company has refused to pay AMSC for certain contracted shipments made in fiscal year 2010.Note $56 million in payments related to Fiscal 2010 quarters have been not paid to AMSC ( which would have been recognized as revenue).None of this was disclosed till now leading to a class action shareholder lawsuit against the company.It is quite perplexing why your largest customer will not pay you for past shipments and then cancel shipments as well.Is it because of some acrimony or is just Sinovel using its massive size to squash a small supplier.
Chinese companies have risen from virtually nothing 5 years ago to become Top 5 Global Wind Energy Players.The Chinese companies have seen massive growth on the back of a strongly growing domestic market.China which now accounts of 50% of the world Wind Turbine market in 2010 is expected to see continued strong growth with the Chinese government setting a target of more than 100 GW by 2015.The growth of the Chinese Turbine Producers has been mainly due to the domestic content requirement set by the Chinese government earlier.The government owned utilities also favor the domestic companies leading to their astounding growth.