Chinese utilities are requiring domestic wind controls in procurement notices, according to research by the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW). The research links the requirements to concerns about dependence on imported technology within essential power infrastructure.

OSW’s procurement study examined 1,686 documents and identified 293 procurements demanding substitution or Chinese sourcing. The sample comprised 251 procurements for replacing imported technology at operating wind farms and 42 requiring new projects to source technology domestically.

The affected wind assets have a combined capacity of approximately 42.4 GW. OSW cautions that this describes the size of the targeted farms rather than the amount of equipment removed. Purchasing specifications alone do not demonstrate that replacements have been carried out.

The requirements cover control hardware as well as software. OSW identifies programmable logic controllers, converters, SCADA applications, operating systems and databases among the technologies covered.

In an analysis published on 15 October 2026, the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) described a June 2025 tender for control-system replacement on 67 turbines at the Kangbao wind farm in Hebei. It said the tender raised concerns about costs, procurement delays and possible foreign control, and required equipment made in China.

ECFR links the purchasing rules adopted since 2022 by leading government-owned power companies to China’s broader technology self-reliance policy.

OSW identifies two unpublished 2022 policy documents as central to the campaign. The researchers had not obtained the full texts and described the documents’ provisions using references in public sources.