China - Large-scale wind farm underway

During a time when it seems that all manufactured goods are coming from China, the major wind turbine manufacturer in the U.S., GE Energy, secured a large export contract for turbine delivery in China for the country's next large-scale wind energy facility. The 34.5 MW Shangyi Manjing Wind Farm - developed and owned by Guohua Energy Corporation Limited - will use 23 of GE's 1.5 MW wind turbines. The wind turbines are being installed on a 5 km by 5 km site located approximately 100 km from Zhangjiakou City in mainland China's Hebei Province. Commercial operation is expected by October 2005. "The Shangyi Manjing Wind Farm is an excellent example of the growing global trend toward cleaner electricity choices," said Robert Gleitz, general manager of GE Energy's wind segment. "China has a vast wind resource and an increasing need for electricity."

The Shangyi Manjing Wind Farm supports China's national initiative that targets the creation of 20 gigawatts of new renewable energy by 2020. At the 2004 China Wind Power Summit, Huang Yicheng, president of the China Energy Research Association, noted that China, alone, has a potential wind power capacity of 250 gigawatts, the largest in the world. At the start of 2004, the country's installed wind power capacity was 566 MW, third in Asia behind India's 2,120 megawatts and Japan's 644 MW. The Shangyi Manjing Wind Farm is GE Energy's third Chinese wind announcement in the past 20 months. In October 2004, GE announced that it will supply 14 of its 1.5 MW wind turbines for the first two utility-scale wind projects to be built in Shanghai, China's largest city. In October 2003, GE Energy announced the supply of 10 of its 1.5 MW wind turbines for the Huitengxile Wind Power Plant in Inner Mongolia, China.

Guohua Energy Corporation Limited is a subsidiary of the Guohua Investment Company, which was founded in March 1998. Guohua Investment was approved by the state council and based on the former National Development and Reforming Committee. The company's main businesses are renewable energy, property, finance and environmental protection. Guohua Energy is specifically focused on energy project development. The Shangyi Manjing Wind Farm will supply power to the North China Power Grid, which is comprised of the Jing-Jin-Tang Power Grid and the North Hebei Power Grid. At the end of 2003, the North China Power Grid's total installed capacity had reached 81,052 MW.