AES - First U.S. power company to enter into China's wind power sector?

Power giant AES Corp. is set to become the first U.S.-based power company to own wind power generation facilities in China after its subsidiary recently formed a joint venture with the Guohua Energy Investment Corp., a state-owned renewable energy producer, state media reported today. The joint venture will construct and operate a 49.5-megawatt wind farm in the Huanghua region of Hebei Province, with the project scheduled to come online in 2009, according to the state-run China Securities Journal.

Guohua will hold a 51 percent stake in the wind farm, while AES's subsidiary, AES Black Sea Holdings, will hold a 49 percent stake. The project has the potential to be expanded in the future, and total generation capacity can be brought up to 225 MW. In 1994, AES became the first U.S.-based power company to enter into the Chinese power sector. It currently operates seven power plants spread across six provinces and municipalities and has a total installed generation capacity of 2,842 MW, according to the company. One of the world's largest global power companies, AES recorded revenues of $11.6 billion in 2006.

AES entered into the wind power generation business in 2004. It currently has more than 1,000 MW of wind power generation capacity in operation or under construction in the United States, and an additional 3,000 MW of wind power capacity installed in other wind projects spread across the world. China reached an installed wind power capacity of 2.6 million kilowatts at the end of 2006, more than double the 1.26 million kW of capacity the country had at the end of 2005.

The Chinese government's plan to attain 5,000 MW of installed wind power capacity by 2010 is likely to be achieved as early as this year, according to vice chairman of the China Wind Energy Association, Shi Pengfei.