Investors from a range of countries including Spain, Germany, and Australia, rush to pump money into the new energy sector in east China's Shandong province.

The province had approved 40 new energy projects by the end of March, with a total investment of $2.39 billion, of which $680 million was from abroad, according to the provincial government's department of commerce.

Overseas investment focuses mainly on wind, biomass, wave and solar power generation.

Currently, with some projects already in operation, the province has an installed capacity of 1.179 million kilowatts.

The cities of Weihai, Yantai, Dongying, Weifang and Binzhou saw large amounts of overseas investment in wind power.

Guohua Ruifeng Wind Power Co Ltd, located in Lijin county of Dongying, has become the largest foreign-invested energy project in the province, with an investment of $170 million.

Spanish investors alone have backed many wind power projects. In particular one Spanish international wind power company has established two projects, with investments of about $31.64 million and $78 million respectively.

Renowned power companies like China Datang Corp, China Huaneng Group, China Guodian Corp and Shandong Luneng Group Co Ltd are also joining the trend to establish wind farms in the province, with an intended total investment surpassing 50 billion yuan.

Shandong Datang New Energy Co Ltd built a wind farm with an investment of 3 billion yuan and State Grid Shandong Electric Power Corp has invested 9 billion yuan in a wind power project in the province.

Another wind project, with joint investment of 22 billion yuan by China Datang Corp, China Huaneng Group and China Huadian Corp, is now under construction in Laizhou.

To date, the project has realized an installed capacity of 300,000 kilowatts and the capacity is expected to exceed one million kilowatts within the next three years.

Along with the boom in wind power investment, a raft of wind power equipment manufacturing projects, are also underway, backed by investors from Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Australia.

(China Daily 04/27/2010 page12)