China, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, will spend more than USD 100 billion on wind power in the next four years as part of its efforts to reduce dependence on coal for its massive energy needs, state media reported today.
Wind power's share of the overall electricity mix should be increased to six per cent by 2020, up from 3.3 per cent in 2015, according to a National Energy Administration plan.
A total of 700 billion yuan (USD 102 billion) will be spent on wind power during the 2016-2020 period.
Wind power will create around 300,000 jobs, bringing the total number of employees to 800,000, Xinhua news agency reported.
Wind farms are expected to produce 420 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually by 2020, up from 186 billion kilowatt hours in 2015. By the end of 2020, total installed capacity of wind power facilities connected to the power grid will reach 210 million kilowatts, compared with 129 million kilowatts at the end of 2015.
China is promoting non-fossil energy including wind electricity to power its economy in a cleaner and more sustainable manner.
The government aims at lifting the proportion of non- fossil energy in the energy mix to 20 per cent by 2030 from the current level of around 11 per cent.
China's energy mix is currently dominated by coal.
According to the World Resources Institute, a global research organization, China contributes approximately 25 per cent of global emissions, making it the world's top emitter.
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