China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group plans to build an 8 billion-yuan ($1.2 billion) wind farm in Yunnan province as demand for renewable energy rises in the world's fastest-growing major economy.

An agreement with the local government was signed on April 30 to install 800 megawatts of wind turbines in Yuxi city, China Guangdong Nuclear said in a statement on its website dated yesterday, without giving a project schedule.

China Guangdong Nuclear, the nation's second-largest builder of atomic reactors, is diversifying into renewable energy to tap growing demand.

Wind power has "tremendous" market potential, and it's in line with Yunnan's move into clean-energy projects, Miao Zhimin, deputy director of the provincial industry and information technology commission, said in the statement.