China starts building its largest wind power plant (AFP) Updated: 2006-07-05 08:46 China has
begun building the nation's biggest wind power plant that will generate
enough electricity for 400,000 homes.
A unit of Shenhua Group, the country's biggest coal producer, will build the
200 megawatt plant at a cost of 1.7 billion yuan (210 million dollars) in the
eastern coastal province of Jiangsu, the Shanghai Daily reported.
The plant in Dongtai city, north of Shanghai, will produce enough electricity
for 400,000 homes, it said.
Shenhua subsidiary Guohua Energy Investment Corp said it planned to expand
the capacity at its Dongtai plant to 1,000 megawatts over the next 10 to 15
years, the paper reported.
China, which currently relies on coal for around 70 percent
of its power needs, is trying to diversify its energy mix.
China is intending to increase its wind power capacity from the current level
of 1,260 megawatts to 5,000 megawatts by 2010, according to the China
Electricity Council.
But the 760 megawatts of installed wind power from 43 wind farms at the end
of 2004 was less than one percent of the total national electricity production,
previous government figures showed.
According to previously announced Chinese studies, the nation has the
potential to tap over one million megawatts of wind power resources, of which
250,000 megawatts are land based and the rest offshore.
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