FUZHOU - China has started construction on the country's biggest wind power project on an island off Fujian province, local authorities said Friday.

The wind farm on Nanri Island, Putian city, is designed with an installed capacity of 400,000 kW. Upon completion in 2018, the project will be able to yield 1.4 billion kilowatt hours of electricity a year, equivalent to burning 450,000 tons of coal, while saving 4.4 million tons of water otherwise used for thermal power generation.

Wind power has provided stable electricity supply to more than 50,000 people living on the island since 2005. The island is prone to hurricanes and typhoons, with about 320 days of windy weather on average per year.

China aims to reduce reliance on coal-fired power through renewable energy including biomass, geothermal, solar, wind and hydropower. The country brought around 35 gigawtt of renewable power generation online in 2014, more than the United States, Britain and France combined.