By Wan Zhihong (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-11-29 09:43

China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), the nation's largest offshore oil producer, announced yesterday it had commenced operating the nation's first offshore wind power plant.

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The wind power plant has an installed capacity of 1.5 megawatts (MW). It is located at the company's Bohai Suizhong 36-1 oilfield, 70 kilometers off the coast.

The plant can generate 4.4 million kilowatt-hours (kwh) of electricity a year. It will save carbon dioxide emissions by 3,500 tons and sulfur dioxide by 11 tons per year, according to CNOOC.

"CNOOC has great advantages in the development of offshore wind power, an important area in renewable energy," said Fu Chengyu, president of the company, adding that CNOOC will pay much attention to clean and renewable energy in the future.

Construction of the plant only took seven months, and its operation could signal even larger scale offshore wind power projects in the near future, Zhou Shouwei, vice-president of the company said.

China has the potential of 750,000-MW wind energy offshore, Shi Pengfei, vice-chairman of the Chinese Wind Energy Association, told China Daily.

The country also has the potential of 250,000-MW wind energy on land, mainly in the northwest and the east coast, he said.

"This year the nation's wind power sector will continue to see quick growth. In 2007, the installed capacity is expected to be increased by another 1,000 MW," he said.

Wind power presently still accounts for a small part of the nation's total power supply. By the end of 2006 the total installed capacity of wind power in the country was about 2,600 MW. In 2006 China developed a total of 1,300 MW of installed wind power capacity.

Determined to promote sustainable development, the government has set a goal of 30,000 MW of wind power capacity by 2020.

This April, China Energy Conservation Investment Corp, a large State-owned enterprise, began construction on China's first million-kilowatt wind power project in Zhangbei, in the highlands between Beijing and Inner Mongolia.

Once completed, the project will generate 440 million kwh of electricity a year. A total of 1.6 billion yuan has been earmarked for the project.

Analysts said wind power has drawn more attention because of soaring crude oil prices.

According to statistics from HSBC, wind energy is the most cost-effective energy resource when oil is above US$49 a barrel.