Rudong offshore wind power farm starts operation
Shanghai. October 21. INTERFAX-CHINA - The Rudong offshore wind farm in Nantong City, Jiangsu Province has started generating power, the plant's operator announced on Oct. 21.
When construction of its initial phase is complete, the RMB 500 million ($73.21 million) wind farm will have 30 megawatts of installed capacity, according to the operator, China Longyuan Power Group Corp. The wind farm's turbines will be installed between 3 and 7 kilometers away from the shore.
Two of the wind farm's 1.5-MW turbines began generating power on Oct. 20, and 14 other turbines are scheduled to begin operating by the first quarter of 2010, Longyuan Power said. The wind farm will supply electricity to the Jiangsu provincial power grid.
The company plans to expand Rudong's installed capacity to 150 MW by 2010 and 2,000 MW by 2015, according to a business plan that the company released earlier this year.
Nevertheless, offshore wind power development in China is still in its infancy due to insufficient government planning and investment, according to the China Renewable Energy Institute.
By the end of 2008, China's aggregate wind power installed capacity had exceeded 12,000 MW, all of which is onshore, according to industry statistics.
-WV