China 150 to 253 gigawatts of wind power by 2020

physorg - China's wind power capacity will increase more than five-fold over the next decade from 2009,

, as the country steps up its drive to

develop clean energy.

"It can choose between the dirty, dangerous world of coal and fossil fuels, or the new, clean future promised by wind. The answer is obvious."

Total installed wind power capacity will reach at least 150 gigawatts by 2020 compared with 25.8 gigawatts at the end of 2009, according to the China Wind Power Outlook 2010 report.

A more ambitious forecast by the publishers of the report -- Greenpeace, the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association (CREIA) and the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) -- is 230 gigawatts over the next 10 years.

That would be equal to 13 times the capacity of the Three Gorges Dam and could cut 150 million tonnes of coal consumption - physorg