Chinese state-owned power firm China Three Gorges Corporation is to spend $6.5 billion on three off-shore wind farms in Guangdong province amid schemes to diversify its portfolio.

Combined, the three plants will give the firm a total of 5 million kilowatts wind power capacity, making it the largest offshore operator worldwide, according to the Financial Times.

While the hydropower giant has a current capacity to generate up to 26 gigawatts of electricity from solar panels and wind turbines, it aims to push this figure to 80GW by 2025, it was further reported by Bloomberg.

As a result, the corporation has also scrutinized potential acquisition of green projects in Mexico and agreed a deal for assets in Spain.

Additionally, projections indicate that China expects a 30 percent growth in power generation from solar and wind plants and zero growth from hydroelectric ones.

This is mainly attributed to the fact that hydro developments are impeded by falling costs of competing energy sources and that optimum places are already being utilized.

That said, China – with offshore wind capacity of 9.4GW – is anticipated to overtake the UK – global leader with capacity of 10.4GW – in 2022.