IP-strong Chinese turbine maker looks to up exports

Dongfang Electric Wind Power employees at work, Oct 23, 2009. [Photo/VCG]

Chinese turbine manufacturer Dongfang Electric Wind Power Co Ltd has said it aims to speed up exports.

It has signed a contract to supply turbines to the Ulyanovsk wind power project in Russia and has recently shipped 14 wind turbines to Russia, as domestic manufacturers look elsewhere for sales.

With an installed capacity of 35 mW, the phase one will be equipped with 14 units of 2.5 mW direct drive wind power units manufactured by the company and is scheduled to come into on-grid production this year.

FTI Intelligence said the Chinese market will shrink with annual installations estimated to reach 20 gW in 2017, from more than 25 gW in 2015, and manufacturers are starting to look further afield for wind contracts to supplement the home sector.

According to Dongfang Electric Wind Power, it now has the most advanced intellectual properties like wind power plants in China. Its DF2.5 mW-100 turbine was the first of its kind in China that has reached the world's highest standard certificated by international certification organization TuV SuD.

"The number of our cross-border projects doubled last year compared to the year before," said Liu Xinggui, chairman of the board.

China plans to spend 700 billion yuan ($102 billion) on wind power during the 2016-20 period. By the end of 2020, total installed capacity of wind power facilities connected to the power grid will reach 210 million kW, compared with 129 million kW at the end of 2015, it said.

China, whose energy mix is at the moment dominated by coal, is promoting non-fossil energy including wind electricity to power its economy in a cleaner and more sustainable manner, trying to lift the proportion of non-fossil energy to 20 percent by 2030 from the current level of around 11 per cent.

Qin Haiyan, secretary-general of the wind power committee of the Chinese Renewable Energy Society, said : "China's wind power industry tops the world not only in installed capacity but also in a rather round industrial system. Some products with Chinese independent intellectual property and leading technology have been sold in nearly 30 countries and regions in the world.

"Wind power is one of China's few competitive industries, as the country has mastered the core design technology of blowers. We are proud to be the first one that exported wind power plant to Russia in batches, and we expect more in the future."