China Petrochemical Corporation, also known as Sinopec and Asia's biggest refiner, has kicked off its first wind power project in China to further explore the country's growing clean energy market.

With an installed capacity of 20 megawatts, the distributed wind power project located in Shanxi province includes eight wind turbines and will achieve on-grid power of 42.87 million kilowatts per year, which will reduce standard coal consumption up to 13,200 tons and substantially reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and dust, the company said.

Compared with big wind farms, where power originates from remote commercial wind farms and sent to load centers over long transmission lines, distributed wind power is localized, so power is generated near where it will be used and consumed onsite or on the local distribution system to meet energy demands.

Distributed wind systems, usually including a few multi-megawatt turbines providing electricity to multiple industrial facilities on the same distribution system, are often flexible and can produce clean power for homes, farms, businesses and other locations.

This is in accordance with the company's plan to further explore the new energy sector, with focus on wind power, solar power, geothermal and hydrogen power.

According to Sinopec, the company produced 14 percent of the country's hydrogen last year and has built up the country's first gas and hydrogen refueling station in Guangdong province. The company's geothermal heating capacity reached 57 million square meters and is capable of providing clean heating for 500,000 households.

The company's photovoltaic power projects reached a total installed capacity of 289.39 megawatts, capable of generating 310 million kilowatt hours per year.