China plans to start building its first offshore wind power plant next year in a bid to help relieve electricity shortages in its energy-starved north, state media said Saturday.
The nine-billion-yuan (1.1-billion-dollar) plant will be located in Bohai Bay, Hebei province, and will eventually have a capacity of one million kilowatts, the Xinhua news agency said.
While construction will start in the third quarter of 2006, the entire offshore windmill park is not expect to be completed until 2020.
The project is jointly financed by Guohua Energy Investment Co. and the Huanghua Port Development Zone of Hebei province. China installed 50 million kilowatts of new power generating capacity in 2004, and is expected to have total generating capacity of 650 million kilowatts in 2007, Xinhua said.
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