Work on China's largest solar farm gets underway

Having already established itself as one of the leading generators of wind energy, China is now attempting to repeat the trick in the solar sector after construction began this week on the country's largest solar farm to date.

The $1.3bn (£870m) facility in the southern province of Yunnan is scheduled to be finished by 2010 and will generate 166MW of power.

The plant will be co-funded by a unit of state power company China Huaneng and the Yunnan Provincial Power Investment, according to a statement on China Huaneng's web site.

The move follows a similar wind energy project that has seen China Huaneng partner with Hong Kong Electric to develop a 48MW wind farm in the province.

China is the world's second-biggest energy consumer and will spend almost a fifth of its 2007 gross domestic product on capital projects, including power plants, as it seeks to stimulate economic growth and escape a deepening recession, the government said in November.

The government is also committed to a huge expansion in renewable energy capacity as part of its climate change strategy, although it has declined to set official targets.