Spatial patterns and influencing factors of China׳s wind turbine manufacturing industry: A review

With climate warming and the energy crisis growing throughout the world, China as a developing country must undergo a revolution in energy production and consumption to change the traditional structure and patterns of energy utilization and establish a safe, green, and efficient energy system. Accelerating the development of new energy, increasing the proportion of clean energy, and developing high-voltage transmission and smart grids is the strategic choice for China׳s energy security and energy restructuring as well as for atmospheric environment improvement and reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. As a strategically emerging industry, the wind power industry in China, particularly its spatial patterns and influencing factors, should be provided close attention. This paper presents a large amount of data on Chinese wind power equipment manufacturing companies from statistics on China׳s installed wind power capacity (CWEA) from 2000 to 2014. The spatial patterns and influencing factors in China׳s wind turbine manufacturing industry are analyzed, and its features and factors are discussed to provide a scientific reference in an ordered pattern. Results on spatial patterns are discussed according to the following two distinct points. First, China׳s wind turbine manufacturing has formed a relatively complete “production, marketing, transportation, installation, operation and management, maintenance and overhaul” industrial chain, and enterprises own many bases but display a multi-point scattered spatial distribution. However, different parts of manufacturing enterprises adopt different exhaustive strategies as shown in this research. Overall, national and regional manufacturing centers are being formed. Second, China׳s domestic wind power equipment manufacturing enterprises are mainly established through relevant equipment manufacturing business investment and are located in the same city as their investment companies; meanwhile, foreign enterprises are generally located in cities with a solid foundation equipment manufacturing industrial base. The subsidiary firms of wind turbine manufacturing enterprises are located in Northwest, North, and Northeast China, whereas wind farms are generally located in eastern coastal areas with abundant wind resources. Furthermore, the influencing factors in China׳s wind turbine manufacturing industry are analyzed as a composite issue from several aspects of wind resource endowment, industrial base, policy support, and economic and technical support. (1) The industrial base primarily affects the choice of location of the wind power equipment business parent company. (2) Wind resource endowments mainly affect the location selection of subsidiary companies; cities with many wind resource areas contain a large number of wind power equipment company subsidiaries. (3) Local government support considerably affects choice of location of wind power equipment company subsidiaries. (4) Among wind resource endowment, industrial base, and local government support, the industrial base plays the most important role. Overall, the strong support provided by government policy is the foundation, and improving the technical level is a necessary condition. The industrial base often plays a decisive role. Regional economic openness has a significant impact on the spatial patterns of foreign wind power manufacturers in the early development of the wind power industry. Market and labor capabilities are also vital factors that affect the spatial patterns of China׳s wind turbine manufacturing industry. The results of this study provide important information for wind equipment manufacturing companies to select new locations and for local governments to develop strategic industrial development policies. The results also provide a useful reference for foreign firms that intend to explore the Chinese wind power market.