Jotun’s focus on serving the growing wind energy industry in China has created opportunities – and challenges – for the organisation. 

In the past decade, China has emerged as a world leader in wind energy, with installed capacity of about 250 gigawatts (GW). And with ambitious plans to become carbon neutral by 2060, construction of both shore-based and offshore wind farms in China is accelerating rapidly. In fact, the government has published a roadmap calling for China to produce 400GW by year 2030 and 1,000GW at year 2050, ultimately meeting about 17 per cent of all of China’s electricity needs with wind energy.

Challenging market

Serving an industry with multiple players in a market as large as China is not easy: Windfarms are scattered all over the country, both on- and offshore. In addition, developing specialised coatings that comply with increasingly strict regulations on the use of solvents has represented a genuine challenge for Jotun chemists.

Solvents, or Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) react with Nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere in sunlight, producing an air pollutant known as "ground-level ozone." High concentrations of ground-level ozone represent a serious risk to people and the environment. To manage this risk, China’s Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan requires that industries replace solvent borne coatings with coatings containing low- or no VOCs.

Over the past decade, Jotun chemists have been developing complete coating solutions specifically for the Chinese market.  Products include low or solvent-free fillers, primers, topcoats, and leading-edge coatings to preserve the integrity of blade surfaces over time.

Pioneering solvent free coatings

As a pioneer in the development of waterborne and solvent-free protective coatings, Jotun has strengthened its leading position as a coating provider of low solvent solutions to the wind energy market in China. And by offering customers a comprehensive range of high-quality products that help customers comply with increasingly strict regulations, Jotun provides critical support to China’s growing renewable energy sector.