Originally published August 4 2005
China enjoying fresh, clean energy with wind farm
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
In the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia, a seemingly constant wind blows 96 wind-driven turbines, and the International Herald-Tribune reports this is just one of many steps toward keeping up with China's quickly growing power needs.
From the distance, the turbines look almost forbidding, looming very large on the horizon like some clawed space invaders.
Apart from the random bleating from a huge herd of sheep, the loudest noise in this open, rolling grassland of the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia is the buzz from the transformers that dot the plain, collecting electricity from this small army of 96 metallic monsters.
Blessed with vast, empty countryside and a seemingly permanent stiff breeze blowing across the steppes, this northern province has seen investors pour money into the wind farm.
"Today we're producing 68 megawatts, but by 2008, we'll generate at least 400 megawatts," boasted Li Yilun, the director of the Huitengxile power plant.
China has also made big investments in petroleum production in countries as far-flung as Sudan and Venezuela.
But at home, where petroleum is growing scarce and overdependence on coal chokes the air of major cities - and killed 6,009 miners last year - the Chinese government is moving just as aggressively to develop alternative energy supplies.
By 2020, starting from a minuscule base that it has established only recently, China expects to supply 10 percent of its needs from so-called renewable energy sources, including wind, solar energy and small hydroelectric dams.
Already, large wind farms are sprouting up in much more heavily populated provinces, like Guangdong, Fujian and Hebei, and with Chinese and foreign turbine manufacturers competing furiously for this fast-expanding market, the cost per kilowatt is becoming increasingly competitive with China's abundant coal.
"The production data was very, very good," said Wu Gang, a member of the delegation who was fresh out of engineering school at the time.
It has provided tax incentives for developers, imposed standardized electricity rates that amount to a subsidy for power sources like wind that remain more expensive than coal, and has imposed equipment requirements that bolster local manufacturers.
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