A turning point in China's wind power development came in 2005 when the country reiterated the importance of clean energy in its sustainable development. Late that year, China promulgated a Law on Renewable Energy, to encourage the development of renewable energy.

 

After that, China issued a series of supporting policies and measures, pushing the wind power industry into the fast lane. The measures included supportive power purchase, which means the state buys all the grid-connected electricity generated by wind power at a higher price compared with thermal power.

 

These measures helped China's installed capacity of wind power to double in five years. During the four years from 2006-09, Sinovel alone manufactured a total of 4,000 sets of 1.5-mw wind turbines. In December 2008, China produced its first 3-mw wind turbines and the first 5-mw turbine was produced in October 2010.

 

  

 

In 2010, China installed 34 sets of 3-mw wind turbines at the offshore wind farm in Shanghai. This was the world's first offshore wind farm outside Europe.

 

"This is a milestone in China's wind power development as constructing offshore wind farms is much more sophisticated than building land wind farms," stressed Tao. "The success of the project indicates that China has now reached world class in wind power turbine design, manufacture and installation." On June 8 that year, all the turbines were connected to the grid and put into operation.

 

According to Sinovel's plan, China's first 6-mw turbine will be manufactured in June this year. This is also the turbine with the largest single-dynamo capacity in the world.

 

"One 6-mw turbine can generate 6,000 kwh of electricity every hour when fully operated," said Tao. In China, the average electricity consumption for a family with necessary home appliances like air conditioners is about 2,000 kwh a year.