Qinyuan welcomed its first wind power company on May 6, when Beijiang Electric Power opened to develop new wind power and hydropower resources in the city. The company expects to build five 49.5-megawatt wind farms in three years with investments totaling 6 billion yuan from investors in Guangdong, Fujian and Hong Kong.

Chen Shiyu, chief engineer for Beijiang Electric Power, said China’s wind power development is mainly based in northwestern areas. While onshore wind power is experiencing white-hot competition, and the unit price of megawatt-level wind turbines keeps dropping, offshore wind power has opened up a new market, he said.

Guangdong province’s wind power market is not big in scale, Chen said, but added that the province will grow as a second-tier player, because of its vast coastal areas. Beijiang Electric Power is funded by Hong Kong Dachuan Energy, Fujian Xinxin Lianchuang, and Shenzhen Xirui Technology. The company has invested in Fengshen No 1 technology, which has more than 30 national technology patents.

Industry officials said China’s wind power market will change in the future, because most wind turbine makers are running short of independent development capabilities and bigger companies are winning market share through price wars. That means offshore wind power will be divided among a few powerful turbine makers, officials said.

Statistics show that China had wind turbines that collectively can generate 18.928 gigawatts of power installed in 2010, up 37.7 percent over the previous year. China accounted for 48 percent of the global total in 2010, replacing the United States to become the world’s biggest wind power market.