Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region will build nine new wind power plants with an investment of US$2.2 billion by 2020, said the local government.

The region is expected to become the country's biggest wind power generator in 2020, when it will have the installed capacity of 2.15 million kw.

The region's installed capacity of wind power stood at 112,200 kw in 2005, according to the China Electricity Council (CEC), an association of Chinese electricity plants.

By 2005, Ningxia ranked fourth in wind power capacity after Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous regions, and Liaoning Province, the council said.

Development of wind power is hailed as an urgent matter in China as it struggles to alleviate power shortages and curb pollution.

The country has set a target of raising the proportion of renewable energy such as wind and solar power in its total energy supply to 10 percent by 2010 and to about 16 percent by 2020.

To achieve the goal, China will need a total investment of US$101.1 billion by 2020, offering vast business opportunities for foreign investors.

China, the world's second largest energy consumer after the United States, promulgated the Law on Renewable Energy early this year, and put forward in its 11 Five-Year Program (2006-2010) the speedy development of renewable energy.

(Xinhua News Agency October 3, 2006)