The new Huaneng Rudong offshore wind power plant will hit the on switch at the end of June. [Photo/rudong.gov.cn]

China's offshore wind power sector is developing rapidly this year, with a raft of wind power plants currently under intensive construction and the Huaneng Rudong offshore wind power plant – the biggest wind power plant with the highest level of localization – due to start operations at the end of June.

According to local media reports, the second phase of the Huaneng Rudong plant has entered its final construction stage, with the last 10 wind turbines to be installed.

On completion, the plant will be equipped with 150 wind turbines with a total installed capacity of 700,000 kilowatts, enough to satisfy the annual electricity demand of 400,000 households.

It will also be one of the first large-scale offshore wind power plants to go into operation during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25).

By the end of this year, operator China Huaneng Group Co Ltd will have an offshore wind capacity of 2.5 million kW. It will be able to generate 6.75 billion kWh of clean electricity annually, which will be the equivalent to saving 2.07 million tons of coal and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 5.66 million tons per year.

"We are planning to build an offshore wind power base with a capacity of tens of millions kilowatts by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, to provide more cheaper and cleaner energy to our customers," said Chen Xiaolu, general manager of the Jiangsu branch of the parent company.