China drops "buy Chinese" policy for wind turbines

China will drop its controversial "buy Chinese" policy for wind power equipment, making it easier for foreign companies to supply turbines to wind farm projects in the country.

According to local media, commerce minister Chen Deming announced the move late last week at the 20th China-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade talks, held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou.

The policy had mandated local governments to source more than 70 per cent of products and technologies from domestic sources when planning wind power projects.

While the abolition of the policy will likely benefit European firms, which have fallen out of the country's top three wind turbine suppliers, it is primarily intended to focus on giving US manufacturers a foot in the door to one of the world's most lucrative wind farm markets.

"The US had hoped that there would be no local content requirement in the wind power market and we agreed with that," said National Energy Administration director Zhang Guobao. "So US wind power technology will enter the Chinese market equally and freely."

State-run newspaper China Daily quoted US secretary of commerce Gary Locke as saying that the move "will open up China's energy market to US companies and create jobs for Americans".

The development coincides with the announcement last week of a planned 600MW utility-scale wind farm in Texas, for which China will supply all the wind turbines and most of the funding.

The $1.5bn (£914m) project, which is being developed by a Sino-US consortium, has drawn flack from some quarters in the US, as the project is expected to create a little more than 300 jobs in the US, compared to the 2,000 jobs predicted for China.

In addition, the consortium intends to source up to 30 per cent – or $450m – of the project's financing from US stimulus funds, despite the fact that it will not benefit American wind turbine manufacturers.