It is not often that we come across wind powered electricity generation projects that have the capacity of producing 40GW. Surreal as it may sound, but the ‘Three Gorges of the Land’ project being constructed outside the northwestern city of Jiuquan in Gansu Province is capable of achieving such high standards.

Wind Turbine

The achievement will be phased in however, as only 5GW power generation will be in place by 2010. It will go up to 12GW in 2015 and by 2020, it will reach 20GW ,with the installed capacity eventually reaching the magic figure of 40W.

What has taken even the experts by surprise is the astonishingly low cost of the project. The overall cost sits at $17.6 billion for 20W and the entire 40W-this isn’t confirmed -, whatever bracket it chooses, it is still pleasingly low.

If you try to establish a reason for this low cost production, the most suitable answer is the use of Chinese-made wind turbines. These turbines are made less expensively than those made in the US or Europe and hence the costs of power generation stay low.

Reference is also being made to the local employment generation and fostering turbine parts manufacturing activity meaning maybe the actual costs may not reflect what it should.

[via Treehugger] Image courtesy of Diego Silvestre

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