Reuters in Shanghai – Updated on Mar 25, 2008
China Huadian Corp, one of the country’s five big power generators, has agreed to buy up to 142 wind turbines worth 1.4 billion yuan (HK$1.54 billion) from China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Industry (Group) Corp under a wind power co-operation pact.
In the initial phase of the deal, Huadian would install 20 turbines this year with a combined generating capacity of 36.3 megawatts at a wind farm in the central province of Hunan, Fang Yi, an official at Huadian’s alternative energy development subsidiary, said yesterday.
South Locomotive, a state-owned railway equipment manufacturer that is planning an initial public offering in both Hong Kong and the mainland in May, would continue supplying additional turbines if Huadian was satisfied with the performance of the initial group, Ms Fang said.
China, keen to boost the use of clean energy and reduce its reliance on highly polluting coal, last week raised its target for installed wind power capacity to 10 gigawatts by 2010 from its previous plan of 5GW.
China had 4.03 GW of wind power capacity late last year, or less than 0.6 per cent of its total power generating capacity. Coal accounts for 80 per cent of its electric power generation.
Denmark’s Vestas, the world’s biggest maker of wind turbines, announced a 197.2MW turbine order with Guangdong Nuclear Wind Power in January, with delivery due to begin in the middle of this year.
China Huadian, parent of Huadian Power International, was developing wind power projects in the Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang regions in northern and western China, as well as in coastal regions, Ms Fang said.
“This year we plan to start building up wind power capacity of 300MW,” she said.
South Locomotive started to develop wind power technology in 2006 and installed its first wind power generator last year, its website said.
A company official said it had also provided motors to Goldwind, the country’s largest maker of wind power generating equipment.