Wind power central to China's energy plans, forum hears

• Source: The Global Times
• [07:35 May 25 2009]
• Comments

China is the world's fourth largest producer of wind power, with the capacity to generate 12 million kilowatts a year, an official said Saturday.

“China trails only the United States, France and Spain on wind power capacity,” Lu Yanchang, vice-chairman of the China Science and Technology Association, said at the fifth China Energy Strategy Forum in Beijing.

Wind power is a key element of China's energy development plans, he said, adding that the country has 200 plants that have generated a combined 12.8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity.

Wind power now accounts for 1.5 percent of the country's capacity and more plants will be built before next year, in eastern and western regions, he said.

Turbines in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region use the strong winds from the heartland of Mongolia and Siberia to produce vast amounts of energy, which authorities hope to increase to more than 10 million kilowatts next year, almost half the amount produced by China's largest hydropower plant at the Three Gorges, Ya Saning, director of the region's economic commission, said at the forum.

Plants capable of producing 10 million kilowatts will be built in Hebei Province by 2020, Zhao Weidong, an official with the provincial development and reform commission, said.

(Xinhua)