A wind power station will be constructed in Qiyue Mountain area in Lichuan County, 720 kilometers west of provincial capital Wuhan. The project is in cooperation with the German government under China's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), said the paper.

The CDM, created as part of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, aims to lower the overall cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere, and to support sustainable development initiatives within developing countries.

As the most populous developing nation in the world, China is cooperating with many foreign countries and international institutions to seek feasible ways of implementing CDM projects, and the utilization of renewable energy including wind power has top priority.

The wind power project in Hubei is the first one of its kind being prepared under the framework of the CDM, sources with the CDM said.

With financial support from the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, a three-year study of wind conditions in Lichuan, which found the region has great potential for wind power projects, has resulted in plans for the construction of a medium-sized 20 million watts wind station. The station is subsequently to be expanded by an additional 50 million watts if warranted, said the paper.

About 400 million watts of wind power capacity have been developed around China. In 2005, it will expand to 1.4 billion watts.

(Xinhua News Agency March 28, 2003)