China ranks fifth in the world in wind power installed capacity, far behind the world's top wind power producer, Germany, which has a total installed capacity of 20.62 million kilowatts.

Installed wind capacity in China was 6.05 million kw at the end of 2007, up sharply from 2.67 million kw a year earlier. Wind power projects under construction would add 4.2 million kw.

Last year, wind power generated 5.6 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, up 95.2 percent year-on-year. The growth rate was 22 percentage points higher than in 2006, according to figures from the China Electricity Council, an industry association.

China's first offshore wind farm, in the northeast Bohai Sea, began operation in November. The station was built by the China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), the country's largest offshore oil producer, at a cost of 40 million yuan (US$5.4 million).

The unit is expected to have an annual output of 4.4 million kw/hr, which is equivalent to saving 1,100 tons of diesel oil annually and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 3,500 tons and sulfur dioxide by 11 tons, according to Zhou Shouwei, CNOOC's deputy general manager.

(Xinhua News Agency March 12, 2008)