 Hydro Tasmania, CLP and China Datang to build wind farm
Roaring 40s Renewable Energy, a wind energy venture between Hydro Tasmania and CLP Holdings, agreed with China Datang to build what may be one of the world's largest onshore wind farms. The first 400-megawatt stage of the project, to be built by early next year, will supply enough energy for almost one million homes. The partners will develop the 1,000-megawatt Xiangyang project in Jilin Province in stages, David Llewellyn, the minister for energy in the Australian state of Tasmania, said in a statement Tuesday. The project will cost 640 million Australian dollars, or $533 million, he said. China is encouraging wind power to help overcome energy shortages created by a doubling in the size of the economy since 2001. The government plans to increase wind power capacity fivefold by 2010 from the end of 2005. The project will be Roaring 40s' seventh wind project in the country. "This one project will develop more wind energy than Australia's entire installed wind energy capacity," Llewellyn said in the statement. "When fully developed, the Xiangyang project has the potential to become one of the world's largest onshore wind farms." China turns net coal exporter China exported more coal than it imported for the second time this year in July as the world's biggest producer and consumer of the fuel shipped supplies to customers in Japan. The country exported 5.73 million metric tons of coal last month and imported 3.89 million tons, data from the Beijing-based General Administration of Customs showed Wednesday. China became a net importer of the fuel for the first time in January, as suppliers strained to meet surging energy demand in the world's fastest-growing major economy. July's figures halted a pattern that saw the country ship in more coal than left its shores for four consecutive months. Japan agreed in May to pay 28 percent more for annual coal supplies from China under 2007 contracts, following two earlier rounds of deadlocked negotiations. 
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