China currently has around 12 gigawatts of wind power capacity and has said it wants to raise that to around 20 gigawatts by 2010.
The plan means wind will be a bigger source of renewable energy than nuclear, despite a construction boom in nuclear power plants, and also far bigger than solar, which is expected to hit 1.8 gigawatts by 2020, according to a 2007 plan.
Fang Junshi, head of the coal department of the National Energy Administration, said that the annual growth rate in China’s wind power will be around 20%.
China is currently the fourth largest wind power producer in the world after the United States, Germany and Spain.
The World Wind Energy Report 2008 had predicted that Asia, under China’s lead, will become the worldwide locomotive for the wind industry and Chinese wind turbine manufacturers will be among the top international suppliers.
