ABSTRACT
China’s constantly increasing need for electricity, concerns for energy security, wanting to build new industries create jobs and mitigation of local pollution and climate impact are central reasons why the Chinese Communist Party has invested in renewable energy. In 2009, the Chinese government and relevant stakeholders met to plan the development of China’s offshore wind industry. By the end of 2013, only two offshore wind projects were completed in China: Donghai Bridge near Shanghai and the Rudong intertidal projects in the intertidal areas of Jiangsu Province. The rest of the installed capacity was one-off test-turbines at different places. China’s first major offshore wind farm was the Donghai Bridge 102-MW project and was completed in 2010, in time for the Shanghai Expo. In a Chinese context, sociotechnical imaginaries associated with wind power can be understood as part of a larger process of nation-building and plan-based governance.
