U.S., China lead way in tapping wind power

China could well be on its way to blowing the U.S. out of the water when it comes to harnessing wind energy.

This is a rare energy success story for a country whose carbon emissions were recorded as the highest in the world last year, according to the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency.

But the Chinese energy revolution has been quietly gaining strength, observers say.
Like their American counterparts, Chinese tycoons are increasingly directing their investment into renewable power.

Zhu Yuguo, ranks at 102 on the Forbes China Rich List, with a personal fortune of 5.71 billion Yuan and has invested heavily in the wind power industry.

Steve Sawyer of the Global Wind Energy Council said: “China’s wind energy market is unrecognizable from two years ago.”

“It is huge, huge, huge. But it is not realized yet in the outside world,” Sawyer said in an interview with London’s Guardian newspaper.

China’s wind generation has increased by more than 100 percent per year since 2005 and 20 per cent of the power supply to the venues of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will come from wind generators, according to the official state agency, Xinhua.

It was initially hoped the country would generate 5 gigawatts of wind by 2010, but that goal was met three years early in 2007. The 2010 goal has now been revised to 10 gigawatts but experts say this could well hit 20 gigawatts.

CNN