China boosts its wind power

BEIJING, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- China's wind industry said it saw 95 percent growth in 2007.

The China Electricity Council said the wind industry made remarkable progress in wind power development in 2007 and expects further regulatory boosts in the coming years, Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.

CEC said the wind power sector generated electricity of 5.6 billion kilowatt hours last year, a growth of 95.2 percent over the previous year. The growth rate was 22 percentage points higher than the year before.

According to Zhang Guobao, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planning agency has taken measures to support the exploration of wind power. There was a survey of wind resources, biddings for franchise of large wind power projects and promotion of localization of domestically produced wind power equipment. In future years, the government may deregulate the approval of wind power projects, he added.

China had wind power facilities with a combined installed capacity of 6.05 million kilowatts at the end of 2007, increasing from 2.67 million kilowatts a year earlier. A goal for 2010 was met three years early.

Now China ranks fifth in the world in terms of wind power installed capacity, still behind Germany with a total installed capacity of 20.62 million kilowatts.