The Chinese government has planned over 12.7 gigawatts of wind power to be built in the next six years alone. However, China now faces the problem of what to do when the wind doesn't blow. In order to have a secure flow of energy for the booming cites, an additional 9.2 gigawatts of coal energy is going to have to be produced.
This is ironic on multiple levels. China has been promoting itself as a proponent of green energy recently and to have nearly 75 percent of the wind power capacity needed to be backed up by coal, it gives the world the impression that China is not doing its homework on where to strategically place wind farms. Like I said in my previous post, almost 30 percent of China's wind power generated in 2008 wasn't connected to the grid! Having a surplus in some places and a shortage in others is the perfect example of why China's top-down approach to their green revolution is severely flawed.
Insights? Comments? Please share.
WSJ
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125409730711245037.html
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China may be struggling in their ability to use the power they have created, but at least they have created some. It is often time rare we implement a new solution correctly the first time. I think the importance lies on the fact that something is being done. This is definitely not even near to the final solution, but wind energy burns much cleaner than fossil fuels!
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