Offshore Wind Energy for Coastal China

(Reve, February 22, 2020)

Under the Paris Climate Agreement, China committed to rely on renewable resources for 20 percent of its energy needs by 2030. Currently, the country is on track to double that commitment. Over the past 20 years, China’s wind power capacity has exploded from 0.3 gigawatts to 161 gigawatts. But, in recent years, that growth has slowed and the hopes for China’s wind-powered future have dampened. Climate change is making historically windy regions, like Inner Mongolia, less windy. Much of the wind power from those regions isn’t being used because of when it’s produced. Research has suggested that some 16 percent of total potential wind generation was wasted between 2010 and 2016, costing more $1.2 billion. "China has abundant off-shore wind potential that can be developed and brought on shore to the power hungry coastal provinces at costs competitive with existing coal-fired polluting power plants,” said Michael McElroy, the Gilbert Butler Professor of Environmental Studies at SEAS. Because of significant technological advances, the economics have changed such that offshore wind could be cost-competitive now with coal and nuclear power in China.