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.

A preliminary study by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (2007) indicated that China's greenhouse gas emissions for 2006 had exceeded those of the United States for the first time. In a country this size, where the government has emphasised raising personal income and consumption to help increase productivity, it is no surprise that China's energy consumption is expected to double by 2020. 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 and the Chinese government aims to accelerate this. The province of Heilongjiang has an abundant wind resource which can be utilised for clean power generation.


The project

This project has installed twenty-four 1.3 MW wind turbines, with a total generating capacity of 31.2 MW. The wind speeds are significant for wind power generation, with speeds at hub height (60m) of approximately 7.6m/s.

The annual electricity generation is expected to be approximately 69 GWh per year. This power will be supplied directly to the heavily coal-dominated Northeast China Power Grid.

Wind power generation is a renewable electricity generation technology which displaces fossil fuel fired power generation technology to supply electricity to the grid.

The baseline is the fossil-fuelled electricity in the grid and is calculated in accordance with CDM Baseline Methodology ACM0002, and will take the average carbon intensity of the “Build Margin” and the “Operating Margin” of the Northeast China Power Grid which equals approximately 1.0 kg of CO₂ per kWh (more than double that of the UK).

The project is operational, with windmills being commissioned between 2005 and 2006.

Other benefits

Social: The wind farm will create local employment in the area during the design, assembly and installation of the wind turbines and also through operation and maintenance contracts once the wind farm is up and running. In addition, residents of Heilongjiang are very aware of energy because the province suffers very cold winters of between -10 and -30 0C; wind farms in this area will therefore provide a valuable example of clean generation to local communities.

Economic: The wind farm will contribute to stimulating the wind power industry in China. Wind generation has to overcome significant financial and common practice barriers to become operational. Investing in thermal power plants is common practice in this area of China and requires half the monetary investment per MW capacity installed compared to

Environmental: The Muling wind farm will generate clean renewable electricity in a country dominated by coal-fired generation. This will result in a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants such as SO₂ and soot, compared to a business-as-usual scenario.

A 1998 World Health Organisation report on air quality in 272 cities worldwide concluded that seven of the 10 most-polluted cities were in China. Respiratory and heart diseases related to air pollution are the leading causes of death in China.