Rudong county is a leading player in wind power sector across the country. [Photo/WeChat account: rudongfb]

Wind power plants in Rudong county – administered by Nantong city in East China's Jiangsu province – generated about 3.83 billion kilowatt hours or kWh of electricity in 2020, enough for about 65 percent of the county's total electricity consumption, according to official statistics collected as of Dec 31 last year.

Official data showed total investment in ongoing wind power projects, with a combined installed capacity of 3.8 million kW, reached 68.6 billion yuan ($10.6 billion) in 2020.

Two offshore wind power plants were successfully completed and started operating last year, with a cumulative installed capacity of 500,000 kilowatts. Other projects, with a total installed capacity of 3.3 million kW, are being stepped up and the target is for all the offshore wind turbines to be completed and connected to the grid before the end of 2021.

Projections are that when all the planned wind power plants are completed and become operational, they will generate more than 13.5 billion kWh of electricity per annum. They will save an estimated 4.72 million metric tons of standard coal equivalent and 38.5 million tons of fresh water, reduce carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide emissions by 16 million tons and 90,000 tons, respectively – as well as cut ash discharges by 1.82 million tons per year, compared with conventional coal-fired thermal power plants with the same generating capacity.

Located by the south shores of the Yellow Sea, Rudong has abundant wind resources and rich wind power plant operations experience accumulated over the past 14 years.

During that period, the county has led Jiangsu province in total installed capacity and developed itself into a leading player in the wind power industry across the country. The amount of wind electricity generation in Rudong has totaled 28.24 billion kWh during the past 14 years, according to the local government.

The 5-billion-yuan ($773.5 million) Rudong Baxianjiao offshore wind power plant project, a marker of Rudong's prowess in offshore wind power technology, has generated a total of 2.60 billion kWh since it came onstream in September 2017, of which 667 million kWh was generated last year.