China has accelerated the pace of harnessing wind energy, choosing Poyang Lake basin in eastern Jiangsu Province as one of the key areas where the country’s largest wind farm will be built.

Poyang Lake, the country’s largest freshwater lake, was found to be ideal for harnessing wind energy, Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday.

According to a recent survey, wind energy in the lake basin could generate 1.25 million kilowatts even by the most conservative estimation. Annual wind speed averages five to seven meters per second and up to 5,000 to 7,000 hours of effective wind force each year.

Seven generators have been planned in the basin, each with minimum annual production of 60 million kilowatt-hours. In thermo-power generation, such production would require more than 25,000 tons of coal and 12 million cubic meters of water, discharging 7.2 million tons of sulfur-dioxide, said Liu Xiaoyan, a senior researcher with the provincial meteorological bureau.

The wind farms would also ease seasonal power shortage in East China, where hydro-electric power stations were usually plagued by low water levels in winters, said Liu’s colleague Nie Qiusheng.

(Shenzhen Daily September 23, 2004)