Nuclear / Wind Power In China

China did have the most ambitious nuclear programme in the world until putting it on hold after Fukushima. Various targets have been quoted but the one of 30GW seems the most realistic. It was predicted that China would get 30GW of wind capacity by the end of 2010 (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/business/energy-environment/03renew.html?_r=1). In fact, according to Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association (CREIA) it got 41.8 GW.

Wind vs Nuclear in PR China
Data from Global Wind Energy Council (http://www.gwec.net/index.php?id=8) and Internation Atomic Energy Agency (http://pris.iaea.org/Public/CountryStatistics/CountryDetails.aspx?current=CN)

Data for the above graph is at: china wind vs nuclear

By the end of 2011 it had 62 GW) of electricity generating capacity (http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/02/wind-energy-installed-in-2011-totals-41000-mw). This is more than the World Nuclear Association predicted nuclear capacity to be for 2020 (http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf63.html).

“However, Greenpeace points out that to translate these installations into massive utilisation, serious challenges such as grid access difficulties must be immediately and effectively tackled”

China Becomes World’s Number 1 in Wind Installation, Greenpeace, January 12, 2011

However, these short term problems can be tackled:

None of the 200+ studies reviewed suggest that introducing significant levels of intermittent renewable energy generation on to the British electricity system must lead to reduced reliability of electricity supply. Many of the studies consider intermittent generation of up to 20% of electricity demand, some considerably more.

The UK Energy Research Council: The Costs and Impacts of Intermittency, 2006

Chinese 2020 targets include 150 GW of wind power and 20 GW of Photovoltaic.

According to their meteorological and financial modeling, reported in the journal Science last week, there is enough strong wind in China to profitably satisfy all of the country’s electricity demand until at least 2030

China’s Potent Wind Potential – Forecasters see no need for new coal and nuclear power plants. MIT Technology Review

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