(File photo)

By 2020, China will see new wind power projects providing 80 million kilowatts of energy to the country. The total investment of those projects will exceed 700 billion RMB, according to a recent blueprint from the national energy authority.

According to the 13th Five-Year Plan on wind energy development, issued by the National Energy Administration, the new wind power projects will be concentrated in central, eastern and southern China. The development plan will also work to guarantee that a minimum amount of wind power-generated electricity be purchased from local authorities in order to protect wind power projects.

Wind energy has become the nation's third largest electricity source, following coal-burning and hydropower.

"Judging from the current situation, it may still be difficult for local authorities to rely less on thermal power and more on wind power, given the surplus of thermal power projects. The development scale and growth rate of wind power projects in northern China will be limited," Qin Haiyan, a wind power expert with China Renewable Energy Society, warned Economic Information Daily.