Bumper year-end for Chinese offshore wind as feed-in tariff expires

Several gigawatts of offshore wind capacity were added to the Chinese grid in the final weeks of 2021 to beat the announced scrapping of feed-in tariffs, according to Windpower Intelligence, the data and research division of Windpower Monthly.

Windpower Intelligence identified ten newly online 300MW-plus Chinese offshore wind farms in December. Together, they have a combined capacity of nearly 3.5GW, confirming industry predictions that there would be a rush to get projects commissioned before the expiry of government support.

A handful of projects in the Rudong complex were brought online in the East China Sea off Nantong, Jiangsu Province, including the 350MW Rudong H2# Rudong H2# (350MW) Offshoreoff Nantong, Jiangsu, China, Asia-Pacific Click to see full details, 400MW Rudong H6# Rudong H6# (400MW) Offshoreoff Nantong, Jiangsu, China, Asia-Pacific Click to see full details, 400MW Rudong H7# Rudong H7# (400MW) Offshoreoff Nantong, Jiangsu, China, Asia-Pacific Click to see full details, 300MW Rudong H8# Rudong H8# (300MW) Offshoreoff Nantong, Jiangsu, China, Asia-Pacific Click to see full details and 400MW Rudong H10# Rudong H10# (400MW) Offshoreoff Nantong, Jiangsu, China, Asia-Pacific Click to see full details projects.

The 315MW Shenquan I Shenquan I (315MW) Offshoreoff Jieyang, Guangdong, China, Asia-Pacific Click to see full details, 300MW Yangxi Shaba Yangxi Shaba (300MW) Offshoreoff Yangjiang, Guangdong Province, China, Asia-Pacific Click to see full details and 300MW Zhanjiang Xuwen South Zhanjiang Xuwen South (300MW) OffshoreZhanjiang, Guangdong Province, China, Asia-Pacific Click to see full details projects came online in the South China Sea, while the 400MW Shengsi 2# Shengsi 2# (400MW) Offshoreoff Zhoushan, Zhejiang, China, Asia-Pacific Click to see full details and 300MW Qidong H3# Qidong H3# (300MW) Offshoreoff Nantong, Jiangsu, China, Asia-Pacific Click to see full details projects also came online in the East China Sea.

Ahead of the COP26 climate summit last November, China updated its nationally determined contribution (NDC) to a target of 1.2TW of operational wind and solar capacity by the end of the decade. 

The latest quarterly report by Wood Mackenzie upgraded its 2030 forecast for Chinese wind power capacity by 48GW due to the country’s rapid energy demand growth and net-zero commitments.