Modeling and evaluation of the wind power industry chain: A China study

The wind power industry is a complex industry involving many different types of enterprises from diverse fields loosely working together to form both internal and external associations. As a complicated system it is necessary to detect the location of the various industry components, their operation characteristics and the various relationships between the many sectors of the wind power industry. Using the general industry chain theory, this paper develops a wind power industry chain model and examines the operation mechanisms of the industry. This leads to the establishment of three perspectives for the wind power industry, these are the supply chain model, the technology chain model and the value chain model that respectively reflect the supply–demand relationship, technology transfer and value creation of wind power related industries. The models can be used to analyze: the resources distribution, the supply and demand and production relationships amongst related enterprises, the relevant technology systems and the value increase process of the wind power industry. Using China's wind power industry as an example, this study uses: (1) the supply chain to analyze the construction, equipment supply and the on-grid connection of wind power; (2) the technology chain to evaluate the technical status of China's wind power industry from the perspective of the level of technology, the source of the technology and the technology standard; and (3) the value chain to analyze the value distribution of China's wind power industry. The results suggest that over capacity, lack of core technology and an incomplete follow up service system are the major obstacles to China's wind power industry development. The models form an effective tool to analyze and evaluate the development status of the wind power industry in different countries, and support the concept of formulating a sustainable development strategy.