The China National Energy Administration, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Department of Commerce jointly held the U.S.-China Renewable Energy Forum on Dec. 6 in Beijing, with the theme of investment in wind power.

In recent years, renewable energy development has been booming in the world, and wind power development is especially rapid. Wind power has gained an important role in the construction of energy infrastructure.

Wind power has been one of the key areas in the Sino-U.S. exchanges and cooperation in energy.

China has the world's fastest-growing wind market, and is putting up a wind turbine every hour. Wind power capacity is expected to increase five fold over the next 10 years thanks to the government's clean energy drive.

Chinese wind companies are eager to tap into capital markets to boost their international profile and have had around half a dozen listings in the past year.

China's investment in renewable energy stands in contrast to the rest of the world. The country spent about 10 billion U.S. dollars in the second quarter of 2010 on wind energy alone, which is nearly half of the global total of 20.5 billion U.S. dollars, according to an Ernst &Young report.

The United States is the first in the world to develop wind power and its total wind power installed capacity is more than any other country. However, affected by the international financial crisis, enterprises generally lack funds.

But the wind power development in China has been expanding with the emergence of a large number of professional wind power investment businesses with great financial strength. These enterprises have the ability to enter the international market, and if they make investment in the United States, it can promote the companies' international development as well as encourage the sustainable development of a U.S. wind power market. However, due to a general lack of understanding of the U.S. market, many Chinese enterprises have concerns over investing in renewable energy in the United States.

The forum introduced the U.S. renewable energy investment policy, business rules, project development models and market conditions and other information to the Chinese companies to enhance Chinese enterprises' understanding of the U.S. market.

Participants in the forum said it further explores the huge potential for renewable energy cooperation between the two countries and can promote pragmatic cooperation in the renewable energy industry.