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SPG to build wind farm in West Texas

(China Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2009-10-31 07:30

A-Power Energy Generation Systems will deliver 240 units of the 2.5-mW wind turbines for the Texas project. [China Daily]

Shenyang Power Group (SPG), Cielo Wind Power LP (Cielo Wind) and US Renewable Energy Group (US-REG) have agreed to build a 600-mW wind farm in West Texas, the largest China-US joint investment in a renewable energy project.

Cappy McGarr, managing partner of US-REG, said: "This planned $1.5-billion investment in wind energy will spur tremendous growth in the renewable energy sector and directly create hundreds of high-paying American jobs."

The wind farm will cover 36,000 acres (14,569 hectares) and generate enough electricity for 180,000 households.

SPG, a local power industrial alliance based in Shenyang, Liaoning province in northeastern China, will own a 49-percent stake in the joint venture project. The balance would be held by Cielo Wind, the largest privately held wind power project management company in the Southwest US, and private equity firm US-REG.

According to the agreement, A-Power Energy Generation Systems Ltd, a NASDAQ-listed Chinese turbine maker and shareholder of SPG, will deliver 240 units of the 2.5-mW wind turbines from March 2010 onwards, subject to the project being financed by Chinese commercial banks.

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"This is the first time that Chinese capital, manufacturing and engineering expertise are being exported to the US, the world's largest wind power country," said Yang Yazhou, vice-mayor of Shenyang. "It demonstrates the two countries can share both the risks and the benefits in a huge wind power project."

It is also the first time that a Chinese wind turbine maker has tapped into the US wind power market, which used to be dominated by General Electric, with competition also from other players like Siemens and Vestas.

Earlier this year, US President Barack Obama and the Congress created the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to promote innovation and investment in renewable energy.

This legislation cleared the way for increased capital formation and significant clean energy investment, opening the door for international investment.

Joe Stark, vice-president of Cielo Wind, said without the act, this joint venture with SPG would not have been possible.

The Chinese government has also launched a stimulus package to boost the development of new energy. With this, Chinese and US companies now have more business opportunities in renewable energy sector.

In September, First Solar Inc, a US energy company, bagged a project in China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region to build the world's largest solar power station.