Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Barren, windy stretches of the Tibetan plateau and grasslands in northeastern China hold untapped value in a country searching for more energy and cleaner air.

China, the biggest polluter from burning fossil fuels, has enough wind-energy potential to generate seven times its current power consumption, said Michael McElroy, a researcher at Harvard University. To develop that capacity and meet rising demand would cost about $900 billion, he wrote in a study published yesterday in Science.

The world’s largest coal-burning nation increased carbon- dioxide discharges by more than all other nations combined last year and aims to offset that growth by boosting wind power fivefold by 2020.

“The world is struggling with the question of how do you make the switch from carbon-rich fuels to something carbon- free,” McElroy said in the paper. “The real question for the globe is: What alternatives does China have?”

The Harvard study of meteorological data highlights opportunities for wind-turbine makers such as General Electric Co., Vestas Wind Systems A/S of Denmark and Spain’s Gamesa Corporacion Tecnologica SA that are expanding in the U.S. and China, the fastest growing markets for wind power.

Harnessing all of its potential wind power would require investments in turbines equal to about 50 percent more than China’s 4 trillion-yuan ($586 billion) economic package that includes money for renewable-energy projects.

Fossil-Fuel Reliance

China is expanding renewable energy to reduce reliance on fossil fuels such as coal, which accounts for 80 percent of its electricity production and releases more greenhouse gases such as CO2 than the other major fuels used worldwide.

Electricity from the wind currently accounts for about 0.4 percent of China’s total generation, the study said. The expansion of wind power is already under way in China and the nation will likely usurp the U.S.’s position this year as the largest market for devices that harness the wind, according to Germany’s VDMA Power Systems, a manufacturers group that represents turbine makers.

The scientists measured wind speeds using surface observations, aircraft, balloons, buoys and satellites over a five-year interval to account for annual changes. They excluded urban, forested and steeply sloping areas.

Clean Air, Better Health

Wind turbines now operating in China are turning only 23 percent of the time compared with 35 percent in the U.S. because of lower quality equipment, limitations by the electricity grid and not having the windmills in the best locations, the authors said. Turbines installed in the windiest areas generating electricity only 20 percent of the time would be sufficient to generate enough power to meet growing demands by 2030.

More wind power would lead to cleaner air and lower health- care costs, which already amount to as much as 4.3 percent of gross domestic product, the researchers said.

China adds 50 gigawatts, or the equivalent of 50 large coal-fired power plants, of new electricity generation each year, with demand rising 10 percent annually in the coming years, McElroy and colleagues said.

New coal plants come into operation each year in the country, which is balking at the cost and effectiveness of extracting CO2 from the existing coal-burning generators and storing it underground in order to lower carbon output, Su Wei, director- general of the climate-change unit at China’s National Development and Reform Commission, said on Aug. 4.

Energy Efficiency

The country can achieve larger emissions cuts instead by spending money improving the energy efficiency of buildings and vehicles and investing in wind and solar, he said at the time.

Plans to reduce the economy’s energy intensity by 20 percent next year from 2006 has led to the closure of older, smaller and dirtier coal plants and replacing them with larger and cleaner ones. Generating 1 megawatt-hour of electricity using the most up-to-date coal-burning technology available in China releases about one ton of CO2 into the atmosphere.

China is the world’s largest producer of coal, one of the single biggest fossil fuel-based sources of carbon emissions, and has the third-biggest reserves after the U.S. and Russia, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The country consumes about 3 billion tons of coal annually.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jeremy van Loon in Berlin at jvanloon@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 10, 2009 20:52 EDT