Competition has got tougher for foreign wind power manufacturers in China, but Indian turbine maker Suzlon Energy still expects to increase its market share as it further cuts costs.
Mr Tulsi Tanti MD of Suzlon Energy on the sidelines of the Boao Forum in the southern island province of Hainan said that "By reducing prices we expect Suzlon will get more business in China in the next two or three years."
He said Suzlon planned to reduce its cost per kilowatt by a further 10% within ten years, by which time wind power would have little difficulty competing with traditional fossil fuel electricity as a result of industry standardization, efficiency breakthroughs and the construction of smart grids.
Mr Tanti said that foreign companies, after dominating China's nascent wind sector, have seen their market share gradually eroded over the last few years but they are wrong to accuse China of rigging the bidding process or offering secret subsidies to Chinese manufacturers.
He said that "Our supply chain is in China so we are a 100% local company, but it is very difficult to compete because locals are working with a local cost structure and we are coming in with a global cost structure and bringing high-end technology."
He added that "But we are making ourselves competitive it was a cost gap of 20% and now it is only 5%."
With the Chinese wind industry now maturing, Mr Tanti said that fierce competition where small manufacturers fight to undercut the bigger players for vanity local government wind projects was just a phase in the market and that higher industry standards would eventually whittle down the sector to around five major local firms.
China's wind capacity reached around 13 GW by the end of 2009, double the figure at the end of 2008 and government officials suggest it could raise the figure to 150 GW by 2020.
