(Yicai Global) Feb. 25 -- China's Cecep Wind-Power plans to double the capacity of its under-construction wind farm in Gansu province to 200 megawatts.

The Beijing-based firm is waiting on government approval to begin the second phase of construction, it said in a statement yesterday. The CNY1.7 billion (USD237 million) facility in Jiuquan will include 80 wind turbines with a capacity of 2,500 kilowatts each and is forecast to bring in an internal return on capital of about 11.2 percent.

Shares in the firm [SHA:601016] closed 1.3 percent lower at CNY2.30 (33 US cents) today as stocks plummeted the world over following an increase in non-China cases of COVID-19.

The wind farm is at an altitude of around 1,700 meters in the Gobi Desert, where the average wind speeds at 90 meters above ground level are nearly 7.9 meters per second. It will be Cecep's first in Gansu using inter-provincial transmission channels to deliver unsubsidized wind power and once complete will integrate with an existing 200MW project the firm runs in the area.

A local unit under Cecep, which is part of state-owned China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group, is paying CNY333.7 million (USD47.5 million) for the facilities and securing the rest in loans guaranteed by the parent company.

With the new wind farms, Cecep will have a total 4,282MW in installed wind power capacity at its complete and under-construction projects, according to its own website.

Editor: James Boynton