China/Spain - Gamesa and China Huadian team up on 300 MW wind projects

Álava, Spain-based Gamesa Corporación Tecnológica said today it has reached an agreement with China Huadian New Energy Development to jointly supply wind turbines with the capability of generating 300 megawatts.

Gamesa manufactures wind turbine generators, while China Huadian, a subsidiary of the China Huadian Group, invests, sells, and produces wind energy, small hydro, distributed energy, solar energy, biomass, geothermal energy and tidal energy. China Huadian is primarily focused on wind energy with plans to have more than 3 gigawatts installed by the end of 2010.

Gamesa and China Huadian said they plan to jointly develop four wind parks in the Inner Mongolia region of China with a total capacity of 200 MW, to be installed through 2011. China Huadian plans to use the remaining 100 MW, to be supplied from Gamesa’s two wind turbine generator products, in other wind parks. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Gamesa’s two wind turbine generators, producing 850 kilowatts and 2 MW, are expected to be manufactured at its production facilities in China. The company also has manufacturing in the United States and Europe. Gamesa’s CEO Guillermo Ulacia and China Huandian’s CEO Fang Zheng formalized the agreement yesterday during Ulacia’s visit to China.

The first 58 Gamesa wind turbine generators, with a total capacity of 49.3 MW, are expected to be supplied to the first phase of a Meiguiying wind farm, with construction of the wind farm starting in the third quarter of 2009. The supply, delivery and installation of the wind turbines would take place in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Gamesa has already been working in the Inner Mongolia region, where it completed a 76.5 MW installation of its wind turbines in 2007. It’s solar spinoff, Gamesa Solar, sold its solar power division to First Reserve, a Greenwich, Conn.-based private equity firm, for €261 million ($370.6 million) in 2008 to focus on its wind energy business (see Gamesa selling solar unit to First Reserve).

Earlier this week, China’s Suntech Power Holdings entered into a strategic agreement with China Huadian to develop 500 MW of utility-scale and commercial rooftop solar projects in China's sunny western provinces, Jiangsu province and Shanghai, during the next three years. Suntech is the world’s largest manufacturer of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules.

A 2008 report issued by China's National Energy Administration cited the Inner Mongolia region as having the most operational wind generation capacity in the country with 1,590 MW. China expects to build several hundred wind farms and wind power bases composed of several wind farms in northern China. The country is expected to situate wind power bases with installed capacities of 1,000 MW and 10,000 MW in Inner Mongolia.

For more information please contact Trevor Sievert at ts@windfair.net