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Wind power growth in China's deserts ignored financial risks
Vast wind farms have sprung up in the Gobi Desert. But in the bid to hit renewable targets, financial risks have been ignored, says Lu Zhenhua, winner of the "biggest impact" category in the China Environmental Press Awards. ...concerns about a national wind bubble are mounting. The losses visible in financial reports from Jiuquan's emerging wind-power network prove that, without state assistance or more preferential policies, limitless winds do not translate into limitless profits.
May 14, 2010
by Lu Zhenhua
in The Guardian
The Chinese county of Guazhou, in north-western China, is famous for its honey melons. But it also produces wind. It blows in from the east through the high, narrow valley formed by the Qilian and Beishan mountains, on the southern edge of the Gansu Corridor.
When the wind reaches Yumen, a city east of Guazhou, it has an average speed of 7.9 metres per second and energy-density of 506 watts per cubic metre at a height of 70 metres. By the time it gets to the "world's wind warehouse" of Guazhou, it has accelerated to 8.3 metres per second and its... [continue via Web link]
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