The country's wind-generated electricity amounted to 135 terawatt-hours in said year

Mar 13, 2014 09:55 GMT  ·  By
Recent figures show China's wind industry produced more electricity in 2013 than the country's nuclear power stations did
   Recent figures show China's wind industry produced more electricity in 2013 than the country's nuclear power stations did

The wind power industry might be having a whale of a time in the United Kingdom, but it turns out it is doing surprisingly well in China too. In fact, it is doing so great that specialists say it has managed to put the nuclear industry to shame back in 2013.

Thus, recent figures indicate that, last year, wind farms operating across the country's territory coughed out roughly 22% more energy than Chinese nuclear power stations did.

Specifically, it would appear that their overall output amounted to roughly 134 terawatt-hours. According to Clean Technica, this much energy would be more than enough to meet the total power demand of the state of New York.

The same source tells us that, starting 2006 and up until 2009, China managed to double its wind generating capacity on a yearly basis. Since 2009 until present day, on the other hand, the same capacity upped by roughly 40% annually.

Specialists estimate that, of the country's current wind energy generating capacity, over 80% is presently feeding clean power into China's national grid.

As surprising as this may sound, it seems that China has the March 2011 nuclear meltdown at Fukushima in Japan to thank for its booming wind energy industry.

This is because, in the aftermath of said disaster, high officials in the country decided that it might not be such a bad idea to halt approvals for the construction of new nuclear reactors until the last months of 2012.

Besides, the country spent several months reviewing the safety of nuclear reactors that were either already up and running, or just being built, and also started to have second thoughts about erecting nuclear power stations in areas where access to water needed for cooling was an issue.

Consequently, the country's nuclear industry had a rather tough time developing. By comparison, investing in renewables seemed like the right thing to do, seeing how, unlike reactors, wind farms can be up and running in just a few months.

Hence, it should not come as a big surprise that China's wind power output came to surpass that of nuclear power stations by as much as 22% in 2013.

What's interesting is that, despite its rapid expansion, China's wind power industry can presently only be credited for supplying less than 3% of the country's overall electricity output. Hydropower and coal, on the other hand, provide 17% and over 75%, respectively.

Needless to say, the fact that the country still relies heavily on coal is to blame for the ongoing air pollution crisis in this part of the world.