China, Technology and the Environment: first 10 million-kw-level wind power station to be built in mid-July 2009

Workers would begin construction on China’s first 10 million-kw-level wind power station in mid-July in the far northwestern city of Jiuquan, Gansu Province, a local official said recently. The would-be largest wind power station was designed to have an installed capacity of 5.16 million kw by the end of 2010, 12.71 million kw by the end of 2015 and 20 million kw by the end of 2020, said Wu Shengxue, deputy head of the Jiuquan Municipal Development and Reform Commission.

“The installed capacity will eventually reach 40 million kw,” he said. “Total costs on the project are predicted to exceed 120 billion yuan (17.6 billion U.S. dollars).”

“It will become another landmark project in China’s ‘Western Development’ strategy after the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and several West-to-East transmission projects of natural gas, oil and electricity,” he said.

As a support for the wind power station construction, local authorities would launch other projects to manufacture air blowers, turbine blades and other equipment, he said.

The government of the remote Gansu Province aims to build “Three Gorges on the Land” with its abundant resources of wind power, Wu said. Under its blueprint, the 2020 installed capacity could surpass the current capacity of 18.2 million kw enjoyed by the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydropower station by total capacity.

In Jiuquan, an area of about 10,000 square km could be developed for wind power generation with a capacity of at least 40million kw, Wu said.

To date, six wind farms are in operation in the city with a total installed capacity of 660,000 kw, he said.

“By the end of this year, the installed capacity in the city is expected to exceed 1 million kw,” he added.