Background

China is developing rapidly and is reputed to be commissioning a new coal fired power station every 5 days to keep up with a surge in demand as the economy expands.

Since power generated by coal dominates the electricity grid in China, there is a very high amount of greenhouse gas emissions released for each unit of electricity generated (about 0.9kg per kWh – which is twice as “dirty” as that in the UK).

There are opportunities to develop other renewable sources of power within China to meet some of this need for electricity. The location of the project has an abundant wind resource which has been proven and exploited by earlier windfarms nearby.

The project

The Saihanba East Windfarm Project generates renewable electricity using wind power resources and sells the generated output to the Northeast Power Grid on the basis of a power purchase agreement (PPA). The project activity avoids CO₂ emissions from electricity generation by fossil fuel power plants supplied to Northeast Power Grid.

A total of 53 wind turbines have been installed, each with a power output of 850 kW to best suit the local conditions. The total power capacity is 45.05 MW. The project is expected to generate about 111GWh electricity per year.

image: wind farms avoid CO2-generating fossil fuel power plants.

Other benefits

Socio economic: The wind farm contributes to stimulating the wind power industry in China. Wind generation has to overcome significant financial and common practice barriers to become operational.

Environmental: The project generates clean renewable electricity in a country dominated by coal-fired generation. This results in a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants such as SO2 and soot, compared to a business-as-usual scenario.