A biomass-fired power plant that burns plant and vegetable
stalks to generate electricity went into operation on Monday in
northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.
The power plant, with an installed capacity of 30,000 kilowatts,
is expected to burn more than 200,000 tons of stalks annually and
generate 175 million kwh of electricity, according to Wang Jun'an,
executive general manager of the Guoneng Wangkui Bio Energy Company
in Wangkui County, Heilongjiang Province.
The plant is the first of its kind in northeast China.
The National Bio Energy Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of the State Grid
Corporation of China, has earmarked 553 million yuan (US$74.17
million) for the project.
The plant will sell greenhouse gas emission reduction credits to
Electricite de France (EDF) under the Clean Development Mechanism
(CDM), Wang said.
The CDM, an arrangement under the Kyoto Protocol, allows
industrialized countries with a greenhouse gas reduction commitment
to invest in projects that reduce emissions in developing
countries. It is considered an alternative to more expensive
emission reductions in industrialized countries.
National Bio Energy Company, which promotes China's renewable
energy industry through biomass power generation, aims to generate
55 percent of the country's biomass power in 2010, or three million
kilowatts, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1.2 million
tons.
(Xinhua News Agency November 5, 2007)