Comparing offshore wind in China and Norway - with Erlend Ek

Environment China

Dear listeners, we hope you missed us during the long summer break! Now, we're back, and hope you'll join us again for another in-depth episode dealing with a rapidly expanding element of China's energy transition: offshore wind.

Today, we’re talking about China’s offshore wind sector and how it compares to the strategies pursued by Western countries, typified perhaps by the example of Norway. Our guest is longtime Beijing Energy Network member Erlend Ek, who was posted to Beijing and lived in China for over 15 years. He is now senior research strategy and energy lead with China Policy. Erlend has over this time headed a long list of commissioned research projects across a diverse range of topics, including China’s industrial development, trade policy, regional economic coordination, and the economic zones system. His master's thesis is entitled: "China and Norway: who leads in offshore wind energy and why? A study in motivation."

Key points addressed in the podcast:

• How China's offshore wind industry started out, and how it compares to the rest of the world. (It started late, but is now largest in the world by far.)
• How China's offshore wind compares technologically. (China has mastered almost the complete supply chain, but so far mainly competes for domestic projects.)
• The role of policy versus markets in China in offshore wind. Erlend points out that the Chinese state plays an important coordinating role, and a very active role in setting objectives, but relies heavily on the market for efficient outcomes within that context.
• How China's strategy differs from that of Norway and other countries more focused on "technology neutral" or "low cost" approaches to the energy transition.
• The two main critiques of China's energy transition and whether they are valid: (1) that subsidies have declining effectiveness and rising costs, meaning they are ultimately unsustainable in bringing about a transition and overly costly, and (2) that the private sector is inherently better at deciding where society should invest than the public sector or policy makers.
• How China localized the wind industry and whether its criticisms of industrial policies in Europe make sense.
• Whether other countries can compete with China in these fields, even with the best policies, given its scale and other advantages.

Episode produced by: Anders Hove