China has surpassed the United States in yet another cleantech category: it is installing the first offshore wind farm located outside of Europe.
The 102-megawatt Donghai Wind Farm, located in the East China Sea, off the coast of Shanghai, began transmitting energy to the grid in July. The US$337 million project marks another new cleantech sector China has expanded into. And this projet is just the first of several offshore wind developments -- construction of multiple farms is currently underway.
Offshore wind power development in the United States has been slowed by political debates at the federal and state level, government regulations, environmental assessments, and due diligence. In a watershed moment last April the Cape Wind Project -- America's first offshore wind farm -- was approved by the government after being proposed more than eight years prior, in 2001. Construction of the offshore wind farm located in Cape Cod, Massachusetts has yet to begin.
In regard to China's entry into the offshore wind industry, Peggy Liu, founder and chairwoman of the Joint U.S.-China Collaboration on Clean Energy, noted, "What the U.S. doesn't realize [is that] China is going from manufacturing hub to the clean-tech laboratory of the world."
Read the full story at the New York Times: Chinese Offshore Development Blows Past U.S.
Nathanael Baker is the Managing Editor of EnergyBoom. He has researched and reported on the issues of renewable energy, sustainability, and climate change for over two years. He has provided research to the New York Times and The Economist, as well as being published on different media outlets including, The Energy Collective.
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