Sinovel Wind Group Co., Ltd., the largest wind turbine manufacturer in China, has placed an order for full electrical control systems for wind turbines with American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC). This initial order will be utilized by Sinovel for its first 5-MW doubly fed induction wind turbines. The electrical control systems are expected to be delivered by the second half of 2010.
The Beijing-based Sinovel Wind Group is one of the world’s top five wind turbine manufacturers. The company has delivered about 3,900 MW of wind power equipment (2,400 numbers of 1.5 MW wind turbines and 100 numbers of 3 MW wind turbines) in 2009. All the wind turbines comprised AMSC supplied core electrical components.
The first 5 MW wind turbines manufactured by Sinovel is branded as SL5000 and the company is expecting these turbines to be deployed by next 12 months. SL5000 will be China’s locally produced most powerful and largest wind energy system.
Global Wind Energy Council said the wind power market in China had a significant growth in 2009 with the wind generating capacity increasing by more than two times to reach 25.1 GW when compared to 12.1 GW in 2008. According to Emerging Energy Research (EER), an industry research firm, by 2020, the installed wind capacity is expected to exceed 200 GW in China.