German-Chinese wind power row

BERLIN, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Beijing is trying to prevent the German wind industry from entering the booming Chinese market, industry representatives said Wednesday in Berlin.

The current standing of German wind turbine manufacturers in the Chinese market is "disastrous, bottom of the barrel," Thorsten Herdan of the German Engineering Federation, or VDMA, said at a news conference held by the German wind industry.

The Chinese government is trying to make entry harder for foreign companies, Herdan said.

"We are in intensive talks with the Chinese government to improve this situation, but things will likely remain difficult," he added.

China already is the world's fastest-growing wind market, with the United States following as a close second and Germany a distant third.

China has nearly doubled its wind power capacity with up to 12,000 MW coming online in 2009.

The U.S. market also grew significantly, with 9,922 MW generation capacity added -- a surprising development in the year of the economic downturn.

"Nobody expected such a significant growth in the United States. German companies are massively profiting from this development," Herdan said.

At home, the likes of Siemens, Enercon and REpower are outfitting a stable German market.

Nearly 2,000 MW worth of capacity was installed in 2009, a 15-percent growth compared with the previous year. After years of delay, Germany finally built its first offshore wind farm, with 12 turbines turning in the North Sea. The German wind energy industry today employs around 100,000 people.

Herrmann Albers, the president of the German Wind Energy Association, or BWE, said wind energy has been the German government's "most effective climate protection tool" -- and more than that.

"We can't be called a bridging technology anymore," he said, adding that the renewable-energy industry has promised Chancellor Angela Merkel it can satisfy 47 percent of the country's power demand by 2020.

That would require, however, a complete overhaul of the country's -- and Europe's -- power grid so it can better integrate the fluctuating renewables. Energy experts have long called for this so-called smart grid.

While growth in Germany still tops Europe, most capacity will be added in the United States and Asia.

Germany should be well prepared for that trend: Around 80 percent of German turbines are exported, with Siemens and REpower the only companies in the world producing turbines specifically designed for use in offshore farms.

"Every fourth turbine in the world today is a German one," Albers said.