(Yicai) Aug. 9 -- Shares of Construction Engineering Group jumped after the Chinese engineering and construction contractor said a consortium led by its new energy power unit plans to invest CNY14 billion (USD2 billion) to build a large wind farm and a green methanol factory.

Construction Engineering [SHE: 002060] rose 3.8 percent to CNY3.60 (50 US cents) a share as of lunch break in Shenzhen today, after jumping by as much as 9.5 percent in the morning trading session.

The Hydropower Energy Investment Group-led consortium, set up with two partners, plans to build a 0.85 gigawatt wind farm and a 500,000-ton-per-year green methanol plant in Huanan, China's northeastern Heilongjiang province, the Guangzhou-based parent firm announced late yesterday.

The project will be built in two phases, with CNY7 billion to be invested in the first to build the wind farm and half of the production capacity of the green methanol plant, Construction Engineering noted. About 80 percent of the electricity generated by the farm will be used to produce green methanol, while the remaining will be sold to the power grid, it added.

The consortium will determine the investment and construction details for the second phase based on the operation of the first one after it becomes operational, Construction Engineering pointed out.

A joint venture project company, established by the three parties in the consortium, will complete the preliminary work, including selecting a project site, and prepare a feasibility report on the project's development within two months after concluding the cooperation agreement, Construction Engineering said, without disclosing a construction schedule and the shareholding ratio of the JV.

Hydropower Energy is a clean energy developer, with its installed capacity of clean energy projects in operation reaching 4.02 GW, including 2.91 GW of solar energy, 723 megawatts of wind power, and 0.38 GW of hydropower. Construction Engineering's income from the clean energy business accounted for only 2.5 percent of its total last year, according to its annual earnings report.

Editor: Martin Kadiev