A group of 50-plus Chinese and German experts, along with decision makers, gathered in Beijing yesterday to discuss a pioneering wind power project in Central China's Hubei Province.

Seen as a promising location for the harnessing of wind energy, the Qiyue Mountain area in Lichuan County, 720 kilometers west of provincial capital Wuhan, is to see the construction of a wind power station - a project to be carried out in co-operation with the German Government under China's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

The CDM, created as part of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, aims to lower the overall cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere, and to support sustainable development initiatives within developing countries.

It allows developed countries to invest in low-cost abatement opportunities in developing countries and receive credit for the resulting emissions reductions, said Lu Xuedu, director of the Resources and Environment Division at the Ministry of Science and Technology.

He said developed countries could then apply this credit against their 2008-2012 targets, reducing the cutbacks that would have to be made within their borders.

Since abatement opportunities are generally less expensive in developing countries, this increases the economic efficiency of achieving initial greenhouse gas emissions reductions, he added.

As the most populous developing nation in the world, China is co-operating with many foreign countries and international institutions to seek feasible ways of implementing CDM projects, and the utilization of renewable energy including wind power has top priority, said Lu, who is also an alternate member of the CDM Executive Board of the United Nations.

The wind power project in Hubei is the first one of its kind being prepared under the framework of the CDM, Lu said.

With financial support from the German Ministry of Economic Co-operation and Development, a three-year study of wind conditions in Lichuan, which found the region has great potential for wind power projects, has resulted in plans for the construction of a medium-sized 20 million watts wind station. The station is subsequently to be expanded by an additional 50 million watts if warranted.

About 400 million watts of wind power capacity have been developed around China. In 2005, it will expand to 1.4 billion watts.

(China Daily March 27, 2003)