The Baoding High-Tech Zone in North China s Hebei province plans to expand its size to 130 square kilometers and increase its industrial output to 260 billion yuan, 3.6 times the level of 2010, during the 12th Five-Year period (2010-2015), local authorities said.
The new energy industry will reach 150 billion yuan of that total, Sun Jinbo, director of the high-tech zone administrative committee, said during the 2011 China Energy Economy Forum in Beijing last Saturday.
For the past five years, the Baoding High-Tech Zone, driven by new energy and energy equipment industry projects, has strived to build China s Electric Valley .
Its industrial revenues surged from 21.4 billion yuan in 2006 to 72 billion yuan in 2010. The new energy industry took the lion s share of those revenues at 63 percent, maintaining a growth rate of more than 30 percent for several consecutive years.
Sun said the zone s growth is due largely to a national new energy strategy, support from the local government, a geological advantage and the collaboration of world flagship enterprises such as Tianwei Group Co.
The zone has centered on six major industries: PV power generation, wind power, power transmission and transformation, power savings, power storage and electric automation. It is home to five State-level laboratories and enterprise technical centers and 23 national key projects.
By Guo Changdong and Zhang Nan
