China to Break Ground on Massive Wind Farm
China is set to begin construction on a massive wind generation project located in the northwestern part of the country, which could produce about 5 gigawatts of power by next year and 20 gigawatts by 2020.
The installation in Gansu Province, known as the “Three Gorges of Wind Power,” is expected to cost more than $17.6 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal’s Environmental Capital.
China’s government announced late last year that it would spend $220 billion over the next two years on clean energy – twice as much as what the U.S. is looking to invest as part of its own green-focused stimulus.
Besides this project China is set to build another half-dozen utility-scale wind farms. Wind generation in China is much cheaper to build, costing about one-third of the cost of European and U.S. wind farms or less than $1 million per megawatts.
As part of its massive green stimulus package China seeks to raise its wind power capacity to 100 gigawatts by 2020, or eight times the current level.
