Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) -- First Solar Inc., a U.S.-based renewable energy company, will build the world’s largest solar power plant in China as the country plans to increase non- polluting electricity generation.

The plant would be about thirty times larger than existing solar power stations operating in Europe, Dulce Qu, a Beijing- based spokeswoman for company, said by telephone today. The 2,000-megawatt complex will be built in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, China by 2019, Tempe, Arizona-based First Solar said yesterday. One mega watt is enough to power 800 U.S. homes.

China, the world’s biggest polluter, burns coal to produce 80 percent of its electricity and wants at least 15 percent of the nation’s energy to come from renewable sources by 2020. The U.S. and China are trying to reduce emissions of gases blamed for global warming, and the New York Times reported yesterday Bechtel Corp. plans to build a solar station in California.

“There are a few existing solar projects of about 50 to 60 megawatts, but this would be the biggest by a country mile,” said Charles Yonts, an analyst specializing in alternative energy at CLSA Ltd. in Hong Kong. “China is suggesting the solar market will be up to 20,000 megawatts by 2020, but the scale of this project suggests these estimates are far too conservative.”

China may increase its capacity to generate electricity from sunlight more than 13-fold by 2011, Cui Rongqiang, head of the Shanghai Solar Energy Society, said Aug. 31. The country’s solar- power capacity may rise to 2,000 megawatts by 2011 and 20,000 megawatts by 2020, from 150 megawatts in 2008, he said.

Chinese Investment

The world’s second-biggest energy consuming nation plans to invest 2 trillion yuan ($293 billion) in its alternative-energy industry from 2006 through 2020, according to the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s economic planning agency. China may pass Europe, Japan and the U.S. to become the world’s largest user of renewable energy by 2010, according to Washington-based researcher WorldWatch Institute.

Bechtel is teaming up with BrightSource Energy Inc. to build a 440-megawatt solar power plant to supply electricity to Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison, the New York Times reported yesterday, citing Ian Copeland, Bechtel’s president of fossil power.

Bechtel spokesman Francis Canavan didn’t respond to a voice- mail message left on his mobile phone after business hours. BrightSource Energy didn’t return a voice-mail message on it press line.

Inner Mongolia

First Solar’s Inner Mongolia project will be built in four phases, the first beginning by June 1, 2010, and the final phase to be completed by 2019, according to yesterday’s statement. The project will operate under a feed-in-tariff that guarantees the pricing of the electricity generated by the plant. No details were given of the investment in the project.

When completed, the complex would cover an area of 25 square miles, spokeswoman Qu said today.

Under the agreement, First Solar will consider module and manufacturing sites in Ordos. The company said it will drive expansion of photovoltaic module production and recycling of used ones in China.

First Solar surged $12.94, or 11 percent, to $134.41 on the Nasdaq Stock Market yesterday. The stock has fallen 2.6 percent this year.

The agreement for the First Solar deal came during a visit to Arizona by Wu Bangguo, chairman of China’s National People’s Congress and the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit the U.S. since President Barack Obama took office.

Wu also saw Honeywell International’s aerospace headquarters in Phoenix this week. Wu, who is leading a 100- member delegation to the U.S., is scheduled to visit the White House and Capitol Hill, a top Chinese official said yesterday.

“This is the first major visit by the Chinese leadership to the United States since the inauguration” of Obama, said Xie Feng, deputy chief of mission at the Chinese embassy in Washington. “Aside from the symbolic significance of this visit, it’s also aimed at enhancing cooperation” between the U.S. and China.

To contact the reporters on this story: John Duce in Hong Kong at Jduce1@bloomberg.net; Indira Lakshmanan in Washington at ilakshmanan@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 9, 2009 01:51 EDT