8 June 2010 - China's first offshore wind farm has begun transmitting power to the national grid through a submarine cable, authorities said.
The Donghai Bridge Wind Farm off Shanghai's coast, consisting of 34 x 3 MW turbines, can fuel more than 200 000 city households, according to Shanghai Daily. The capacity of the wind farm was only 102 MW, less than one per cent of the city's current total power capacity of about 18.2 GW from traditional fuel electric plants.
But Shanghai Electric Power Co Ltd, the city's power supplier, said it was a good start for the application of clean energy in Shanghai. "The operation of the Donghai Bridge Wind Farm provided good experience for the development of new energy," said Li Chonghe, vice general manager.
The company said that with the operation of the Donghai wind farm, the city could save about 86 000 tons of coal and reduce carbon dioxide by more than 234 700 tons every year.
Construction of the wind farm, located at the east side of the Donghai Bridge, was started in September 2008 and finished this February. Before operations officially started, the wind farm was on a trial run for more than a month, the company said. The first batch of power generated by the wind farm is being transmitted to the World Expo site.
Meanwhile, construction of the Donghai wind farm's second phase has been approved for the west side of the bridge, authorities said. The total capacity of the second phase was also designed at about 100 MW, the company said.
The company said it plans to build another four offshore wind farms: one in the Pudong New Area, one in Chongming County and the other two in Fengxian District. The total capacity of wind power could reach 1100 MW after the farms are finished.
The city's power capacity now amounts to 26.64 GW, including 8.44 GW brought in by the national grid from other provinces. Power demand is expected to peak at 26 GW during workday rush hours on extremely hot days this summer, officials said.
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