Severe power shortages suffered last summer in the Yangtze River Delta may be something of the past as the local governments consider employing wind as a new source of energy.

The delta region includes Shanghai and 14 cities in its neighboring provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu.

Generators in wind power plants with a total capacity of 675,000 kilowatts are now either under construction or being planned by governments in the area, the People's Daily Website reported.

Among them, generators with a total capacity of 500,000 kilowatts will be built in Rudong, a coastal city in Jiangsu.

Upon completion, probably by 2007, the province's first wind power plant is expected to be the biggest of its kind in Asia.

The first phase of the project, comprising some 70 generators of 100,000 kilowatts in total, will be installed by the end of this year.

Investment of US$1 million has been offered by the Huarui Investment Group, a privately run company based in Beijing, and two other unnamed firms.

Other wind power plants are planned in Zhejiang Province, including a 50,000-kilowatt one in Taizhou and a 100,000-kilowatt one in Daishan.

Wind-generated electricity is already in use in Zhejiang, but the province needs far more energy than the 50,000 kw it currently gets.

In Shanghai, a 20,000-kilowatt wind power project financed by the World Bank is under construction.

The project, scheduled to supply power to the city by the end of this year, comprises a 14,000 kilowatts wind power plant in Nanhui District and a 6,000 kilowatts one in Chongming County, according to officials with the Shanghai Energy Conservation Supervision Center.

"Four generators on the coast of Fengxian District are in operation and will soon be connected to the grid," said Yang Jinde, an official at the center.

It is expected that wind power will account for 3 percent of the total electricity Shanghai consumes by 2015.

"The delta region, and the whole country as well, depends too much on coal for power," said Yang.

Currently about half of the country's coal is used to generate electricity.

More than 60 percent of power used in the delta area comes from fossil fuels.

Power shortages have resulted in a surge in coal consumption.

Reliance on coal in the long term would not benefit China as the country's coal sources are limited.

Having additional energy sources, such as wind, is thus important.

In addition to wind, the country has begun shifting attention to hydro and nuclear power sources, both of which are cleaner than coal.

(eastday.com February 7, 2004)