With the wind industry taking a belting around the planet – its spruikers are left clinging to any vestige of hope, with the anxious zeal of shipwreck survivors happening upon that last piece of flotsam.

One such “hope”, is their belief that China provides the perfect example of what wind power outfits can do when immune from the pesky little obstacles like free power markets and democratic rights.

The line they spin is that China is leading the world in the roll-out of these things; and is well on the way to a 100% wind powered future. But, as with almost everything that the wind industry tosses up as self-justification, the facts tell a somewhat different story – in China:

20% or more of China’s wind power capacity isn’t even connected to the grid (talk about idle gestures);

grid operators aren’t about to change that equation, simply because they’ll lose…