China approves four new wind energy projects

The wind energy projects include a 24.2 billion yuan wind farm in Jiuquan, in the western province of Gansu; a 16.2 billion yuan project in Hami, Xinjiang; a 13.6 billion yuan plant in Baotou, Inner Mongolia; and a 3.23 billion yuan project in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, the Beijing-based Caixin.com reported.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planner, approved four new wind power projects, which are capable of producing 6.8 gigawatts of electricity and worth a total of 57.2 billion yuan ($9.17 billion).

Analysts say that with the last month of this year, more projects will be approved by the NDRC, which means a new round of infrastructure construction. With the construction, comes benefits to a number of ancillary industries.

By the end of the year, China’s installed wind energy capacity will surpass 60 gigawatts, said Liu Qi, deputy secretary of the National Energy Bureau.

The new Five-Year Plan calls for an installed capacity of 100 gigawatts by 2015 and 200 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2020.

The power consumption of the world’s second-largest economy is expected to show growth of about 6 percent to 5 trillion kilowatt-hours for the year 2012, the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) forecast last month.

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