California, one of the greenest states in the U.S., has become a major destination for Chinese solar companies. Suntech Power Holdings Co, based in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, has its U.S. headquarters in San Francisco. Suntech’s solar panels are used by California-based Google to power its data center. The 2 megawatt (MW) installation at Google’s global headquarters is the largest corporate installation in the U.S. Two other Chinese solar companies, Yingli Green Energy Holding Co and Trina Solar, also have their U.S. headquarters in California. The state accounts for half of the solar market in the North American region. In 2010, nearly 1 GW of new solar panel capacity was installed in the U.S., the highest total in the country’s history. “Today, it is incentives that drive the market,” said Brian Grenko, Director of Operations for Yingli Green Energy America. “Ultimately, technology and efficiency will be the driving forces.” Yingli sold 100 MW of solar panels in the U.S. last year and expects sales to double this year, said Grenko. With shrinking demand in Europe because of the withdrawal of incentives by some governments, U.S. solar companies are finding strong competition from Chinese players in their home market. Suntech has a 20% market share in the U.S., leading to concerns that China, which is already the largest global exporter of solar panels, is winning in one of the world’s most promising industries. In January the Massachusetts-based module manufacturer Evergreen Solar announced that it would shift its manufacturing operations to China. Canada-based Cyrium Technologies, a manufacturer of Concentration Photovoltaic (CPV) cells, is developing the largest CPV project in China, which, according to its President Harry Rozakis, “cannot be done in the U.S. because of bank and regulatory issues.” GCL Solar Energy, a subsidiary of GCL-Poly Energy, China’s largest poly-silicon producer, has hundreds of projects in the U.S., which makes it the largest investor in the U.S. solar sector. “Our top concern is policy and government support,” said Liu Yumin, President of GCL Solar, “All we need is consistent policy and to be treated as a local company,” Liu added, as reported by the China Daily.

The green goals in China’s new Five Year Plan present opportunities for European and Chinese businesses. “With China pushing low-carbon growth up the political and business , there are considerable opportunities for UK businesses with low-carbon knowledge, capability, and commercial expertise,” said Susan Haird, Acting Chief Executive of UK Trade & Investment, in an exclusive interview with China Daily. “It is important that we continue to increase two-way investment between our countries in low-carbon goods and services, as this will lead to the increased growth of a global low-carbon economy,” Haird said. China’s 12thFive Year Plan (2011-2015) seeks to achieve a more balanced approach to growth and development, focusing greater attention on the environment and sustainable development. China and Scotland sealed a major green-energy deal when Vice Premier Li Keqiang visited the United Kingdom in January. The agreement, worth GBP6.4 million, will see technology pioneered in Scotland used at a new renewable-energy conversion plant in China. The licensing deal was reached between the Sino-Scottish company Shanghai Huanuan Boiler and Vessel Co/Cochran and Scotland-based W2E Engineering, which specializes in generating electricity from domestic refuse. Like the UK, some European countries’ current leadership in low-carbon technologies means that they can be first in line to benefit from the growth in China’s green markets. China and Germany signed a deal to cooperate on low- carbon product certification in October 2009, the first such foreign cooperative program undertaken by China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP).

China’s largest direct-drive wind turbine recently passed an international test meant to determine if it could continue operating even when there is a power dip on the national grid. The 2.5-megawatt turbine was developed by Guangxi Yinhe Avantis Wind Power Co. It recently passed a low-voltage ride-through test, said Lars Andreasen, General Manager of the turbine maker in Beijing, adding that it was the largest direct-drive permanent magnetic wind turbine in the world that has passed the test. The test measures the capacity of a turbine to continue operating when the voltage on the electrical grid dips. In June 2009, the device became the first 2.5 MW wind turbine to be connected to China’s national grid. On March 5 this year, the turbine, which stands at a testing site in Beihai, Guangxi autonomous region, passed two-phase and three-phase low-voltage ride-through tests, carried out by the China Electric Power Research Institute. And on March 7, the prototype again passed the test, which, this time, was conducted according to standards upheld by the International Electro-technical Commission. Few of the 1.5 MW wind turbines now popular in China have done so well. In October 2010, a 5 MW direct-drive wind turbine rolled off the production line of the Xingtan Electric Manufacturing Corporation, a wind turbine maker in Hunan province. The turbine is now the largest in the country, and the company is planning to develop 6 MW and 7.5 MW direct-drive wind turbines.

In March 2010, the National Energy Bureau announced it had established a special committee to draft standards for the connection of wind-power devices to the power grid. According to Dai Huizhu, Professor at the China Electric Power Research Institute, 598 wind turbines in Jiuquan, Gansu province, were disconnected from the grid during voltage sags in February this year. Hundreds of turbines in Jilin province had the same troubles in January. Xie Wenbo with the wind power branch of the China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group, said that the 1.5 MW wind turbines could operate soundly only for three years and that after that they will begin to show problems. Liu Bin from China Wind Power, a leading developer of wind farms, said: “With wind turbines of this quality, China cannot realize its ambitious capacity objectives for 2020.” Bringing the thousands of wind turbines now in operation up to a better standard will require large expenditures, amounting to up to 1% of the value of the turbines themselves, industry officials say. China aims to have the capacity to generate 290 gigawatt (GW) from new energy sources by 2020, with 150 GW coming from wind power, the China Daily reports.

China remains the world’s leading investor in low-carbon energy technology, a global study by the U.S. Pew Environment Group showed. China invested USD54.4 billion in 2010, up from USD39.1 billion in 2009. While the U.S. saw investment increase by 51% to USD34 billion, it still slipped from 2nd to 3rd in the ranking, behind Germany’s USD41.2 billion. Globally, the sector – which does not include nuclear power – attracted USD243 billion of investment, a 30% increase from 2009 and a 630% rise since 2004. The report outlined that as well as attracting the most investment, China was also the world’s leading producer of wind turbines and solar energy units. The authors also pointed out that the country in 2009 overtook the U.S. as the nation with the most installed clean energy capacity.

Four environmental organizations have accused Zijin Mining Group of failing to disclose pollution, and of violence and killings at its Peruvian copper mines. The company is China’s largest gold producer and also mines copper, zinc and iron. It was fined CNY30 million for hazardous-waste water leaks in Fujian last year. It is fighting lawsuits from 852 individuals in Guangdong who seek CNY170 million in compensation for damages caused by the leaks. The non-governmental organizations sent a letter to Christine Kan at Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, urging it to ensure Zijin discloses recent events at its Peruvian copper mine to its shareholders. They alleged that Zijin failed to obtain proper approval from local communities before conducting exploration and that it was fined for breaching environmental laws. The letter was signed by CooperAccion and the Ecumenical Foundation for Peace and Development, both based in Lima, as well as Friends of the Earth in the United States and Belgium’s Catapa, the South China Morning Post reports. In April 2007, Zijin bought a 36% indirect interest in the Rio Blanco mine in the mountainous Piura region of northern Peru. Three years ago, Zijin’s Chairman Chen Jinghe said it would delay construction and scale down investment in the project. In September 2007, three towns in northern Peru voted against the project, fearing it would pollute rich agricultural lands. The mine is expected to produce 200,000 tons of copper a year, more than double Zijin’s 2009 copper production of 85,000 tons. A Zijin official said the company was considering raising its stake in the project, which is expected to start production next year.