Chinese companies lost 7 billion yuan in wind power paint market

The wind power industry in China is developing rapidly, but the wind power coating industry has not kept up. The picture shows a wind farm in China. Its foreign paints are foreign brands. (Reporter Zhang Yushe)

Sinochem New Network News National Energy Development Research Institute of National Development and Reform Commission released on October 19 "China Wind Power Development Roadmap 2050" shows that by 2020, 2030 and 2050, China's wind power installed capacity will reach 200 million, 400 million and 10 Billions of kilowatts will meet the power demand of 5%, 8%, and 17% respectively. Wind power will become one of China's five largest power supplies. According to estimates, from 2010 to 2020, China's wind power coating will require approximately 130,000 tons, with a market of nearly 7 billion yuan.

But the reality is that China's wind power coatings, especially blade coatings, are almost entirely dependent on imports.

Nearly 7 billion yuan! The reporter couldn't help but wonder if such a huge market could not catch China's paint companies.


Market overlords are foreign brands in the context of increasingly tight energy, the world has no less than 70 countries in the use of wind power. In China, with the support of national policies, the installed capacity of wind power has also continued to grow rapidly in recent years. According to the “2010 China Wind Power Installed Capacity Statistics” report published by the China Wind Energy Professional Committee of the China Renewable Energy Association in March this year, China (excluding Taiwan) installed 12,904 new wind turbines in 2010, with an installed capacity of 18,927.99 MW, a year-on-year increase. 73.3%; cumulative installed capacity reached 44,733.29 megawatts, exceeding the United States, ranking first in the world. This achievement is 32 times that of 2005, which is equivalent to half of the global wind power market in 2010.

The rise of the wind power industry has also brought opportunities for the development of related industries. Paint is one of them. It is understood that due to the fact that most of the wind power installations are built in areas such as deserts, where there is no wind, dust and dust, the wind turbine system will encounter various kinds of harsh environmental erosion. At the same time, offshore wind power has been subjected to water vapor, salt spray, and waves for a long time, and corrosion problems are apt to occur. Therefore, we must rely on anti-corrosive coatings to ensure the safe operation of equipment and the continuation of life. Wind power protection coatings mainly include tower anti-corrosion coatings and blade protection coatings, while tower bases, hubs, bearings, nacelle covers, fairings, and other electrical equipment also need to be protected by paint.

Dong Xiufen, director of the New Energy Division of the New Energy and Renewable Energy Division of the National Energy Administration, once said that although wind power coating is a supporting industry, it has a great impact on the wind power industry. In 2010, according to the output of wind turbines, the output value of wind power coatings exceeded 1 billion yuan. According to the wind energy development goals, the installed capacity of wind power will reach 100 million kilowatts by 2015 and 200 million kilowatts by 2020. At the end of the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” period, the output value of wind power coatings will reach 3 billion to 4 billion yuan. This is just a paint for new installations. If it includes the repair and maintenance of the blades and the entire life cycle, the output value of wind power coatings will be even higher. It is estimated that from 2010 to 2020, domestic wind power coatings will total approximately 130,000 tons, with a market of nearly 7 billion yuan.

Zhou Zhuye, vice president of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, predicted that the demand for protective coatings for wind power equipment will make wind power coatings a new growth point for the development of the paint industry.

But what is the truth? Guo Honglin, a senior engineer of the National Chemical Industry Productivity Promotion Center, recently broke the news to the media: First-line wind power coating manufacturers have always been difficult to capture Chinese companies. China's wind power coatings are mainly supplied by foreign paint brands, especially blade coatings, and almost all rely on imports.

According to Guo Honglin, chemical coating companies from Denmark, Germany, Italy, and the United States are currently the dominant players in the Chinese wind power coating market. Among them, for tower coatings, Danish Heppel, JOTUN of Norway, AkzoNobel of the Netherlands, and PPG of the United States have the highest market share; in blade coatings, Germany Companies such as Mankiewicz, PPG in the US, BASF in Germany, and Bergolin in Germany have advantages. The "film type" fan blade coating protection system introduced by PPG can reduce the amount of coating used by 60%, but its performance is unchanged, and its adhesion flexibility is also improved. Corrosion resistance and weather resistance are also relatively strong.

U.S. PPG Industries holds a large market in the field of wind power coatings. The picture shows that at the 17th China International Composite Industry Technology Exhibition held in September this year, PPG sales personnel are negotiating with customers to paint business. (photographed by special journalist Yan Zhongyi)

Domestic enterprises can not be daunted after learning It is understood that in 2009 when the country overtook the United States to become the world's largest paint production and consumption. By 2010, China's paint production has reached 9.66 million tons. Why do tens of thousands of domestic paint companies fail to supply tens of thousands of tons of wind power paint in this district?

The reporter interviewed more than a dozen domestic paint companies found that domestic companies have only begun to enter this field in the past two years, and the annual output is also in the tens of tons or even several tons.

"According to relevant statistics, from 2009 to 2010, the demand for domestic wind power coating market is about 30,000 tons, but the total share of all paint companies in China will not even account for 10% of the wind power coating market." China Coating Industry Association Liu Guojie, a senior engineer from the Ministry of Industry Development, sighed at the CCIN reporter.

Liu Guojie also said that at present China has not yet promulgated the wind power coating industry standards. Each coating company usually establishes its own corporate standards based on its own understanding and some requirements provided by wind power equipment manufacturers. Who wants to use the products produced in this way?

It is understood that in recent years, with the continuous expansion of the wind turbine unit capacity, the requirements for wind power coatings are also increasing. For example, the fan blade has been developed from a small blade with a length of about 20 meters to a blade size of about 50 meters or even larger. The corresponding blade coating must also develop accordingly. The small blades are usually made of unsaturated polyester resin, and the outer layer is covered with a resin gel coat, which is often no longer protected by coating. The larger blades are made of epoxy glass fiber reinforced plastic as the substrate, and the surface is coated with high-performance polyurethane paint. One painter in the industry described: The wind power coating market is running, while domestic companies are escalating.

Jiang Fangqun, chief engineer of Hangzhou Paint Co., Ltd., told the CCIN reporter: “Our company originally wanted to enter this field, but because of the large amount of capital investment required in the early stage and the need for new technology research and development, product certification through the country has a long product cycle. There is really no such ability and energy."

“We invested a large amount of funds in research and development, and the technology is basically not a problem, but the downstream customers have to look at the performance of our wind power coatings. Domestic companies do wind power coatings also started in recent years, how can there be performance?” Shanghai Paint Co., Ltd. executive vice president Manager Huang Youwei told reporters.

The technical director of Shanxi Baotashan Paint Co., Ltd. Liu Xianwen talked about the domestic wind power coating market is also somewhat helpless: “We can do tower coating, but the amount is very small, last year and this year have only produced five or six tons, and there are Customers demand reproduction and downstream users are reluctant to eat crabs.”

“We can produce tower coating, but it will be about 20 tons a year. Because the core technology of wind power equipment is basically in foreign countries, so equipment tenderers basically require the use of foreign paint products.” Dalian Yuxiang Technology Group Chief Engineer Yu Qingzhang also said that.


There may be an opportunity to adapt to local conditions. However, the industry has recently opened up an important message, which allows domestic companies to see hope.

According to paint industry insiders, although almost all wind power installations currently in operation are German Magevic, BASF, Berglin, and American PPG, these foreign brands are also in the design period, but the actual operating results are not ideal. Especially in the northern and northern cold and arid wind and sand areas, due to the different corrosive environments of the outer wall of the tower, the lack of performance of the outer wall layer and the excess performance of the inner wall layer caused double waste.

“China's wind farms are mostly located in the wind-sand impact area. Some of these foreign brands can only adapt to the fine atmospheric environment in Europe. In the Chinese wind field, they simply cannot resist the impact of wind and sand,” said Huang Youwei.

Domestic companies are excited and have voiced their voices.

Li Huaming, deputy general manager of Northwest Yongxin Chemical Co., Ltd., said that in the development of wind power coatings, our domestic coating companies are designing products based on China's wind environment and can better adapt to the ocean and inland winds and sand. In the climate environment, some major performance indicators even exceed the foreign brands of the same category. Since the state encourages the development of wind power, it should also encourage the use of domestic brands in project design and tendering. This is not only paint, but all other products related to wind power. Our product quality is hard enough and there are price advantages. It is hoped that the relevant state departments will be able to guide the industry and realize the localization of wind power coatings as soon as possible.

“We hope that the downstream users of domestic wind power coatings can communicate with us more and tell us their requirements for the products. We will carry out targeted product development. Although foreign companies can do this, we have advantages over them. Because their R&D teams are all abroad, we can communicate with customers more conveniently and more efficiently to meet their requirements.As the country’s relevant departments should guide localization of automotive coatings, they should allow domestic paint companies to compete fairly with foreign brands. The bidding barriers of the project bidders have left such a large market for wind power paints lost,” said Huang Youwei.

Liu Xianwen believes that domestic paint companies should make changes in business practices, encourage wind power owners to try domestic products, and dare to make commitments to paint users. If the quality of products affects the use of results, paint companies must dare to take risks, so as to open the market step by step.

Liu Guojie suggested that domestic paint companies can start with the paint on the inner wall of the tower. Because the current bidding threshold for wind power owners is not very high, unlike foreign paints, they have to identify foreign brands. The wall paint market for tower walls became larger, and gradually entered other wind power coating markets. This is not an anxious process and it needs to be gradual. In addition, the industry standards for wind power coatings should be intensified. The formulation of industry standards can help wind power paint users have a more standard reference when selecting products. This is of milestone significance for promoting the localization process of wind power industrial facilities supporting coatings and accelerating the pace of development of wind power coating industry in China.

Most domestic paint companies have entered the wind power field in the past two years. The picture shows the wind power coating produced by Northwest Yongxin Chemical Co., Ltd. is being used to paint wind turbine towers. (For CFP)