ABSTRACT

Wind energy has been one of the fastest growing energy sectors over the last 20 years and a core element of the wider emerging renewable energy industry. Asia has played a key role in this development. Companies from China, India, Japan and South Korea are now major manufacturers of wind turbines and their components. Asian governments have introduced a series of policies and strategies to promote the growth of these companies, the installation of wind energy technologies, and supporting the necessary infrastructure to connect wind farms to the grid. China overtook the United States in 2010 as the world’s largest installer of wind energy, and has five of the world’s top ten wind turbine producers. In Asia, wind energy is not just seen as a decarbonising solution but also an emerging strategic industry to be nurtured. However, its future growth will face a number of challenges in light of intermittency power issues, installation infrastructure constraints and other technical matters. This chapter explores all these aspects of wind energy development in Asia to date and considers its future prospects in the region and globally.