(Yicai Global) Dec. 1 -- Guangdong Electric Power Development will invest CNY12.9 billion (USD1.82 billion) to build a photovoltaic power plant and an ancillary energy storage power station in northwestern China to boost the proportion of renewable energy in the Chinese electric power supplier's electricity mix.

The project, which will be located in sunny Kashgar in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, will have a 2,000 megawatt solar power plant and a 500 MW energy storage power station, Guangdong Electric Power said yesterday. Located in the Taklamakan Desert, Kashgar has an average of 1,480 sun hours a year.

The project will become an important strategic investment by the company to develop its renewable energy business in northwest China, it said. Twenty percent of the investment will come from its own funds, and the rest will be raised from bank loans or fundraisers, it added.

Guangdong Electric Power, which is the biggest supplier of coal-generated power in Guangdong, the province with the largest economy, has been actively expanding its positioning in renewable energy in recent years. So far, it has an installed capacity of wind power of 1.9 million kilowatts, most of which are offshore projects, and only 1,200 KW of solar projects, a senior manager said recently.

Guangdong Electric Power is also planning to build a 400 MW solar power plant with a 80 MW ancillary energy storage power station in Tumushuke, Xinjiang for CNY2.2 billion (USD311.5 million), it said in March. And in July last year it announced plans for a 3,000MW solar power plant costing CNY12 billion in western Qinghai province.

Editor: Kim Taylor