A 600 MW wind farm spanning 36,000 acres – one of the largest in the U.S. – is being built as the first joint venture of a utility-scale wind farm between US and Chinese companies.
The U.S. Renewable Energy Group and Cielo Wind Power LP have entered into a joint venture with China’s Shenyang Power Group (SPG) to build the plant.
The turbines will be manufactured by A-Power Energy Generation Systems, Ltd. (Nasdaq: APWR), a shareholder of Shenyang Power. The 240, 2.5 MW wind turbines will be manufactured at A-Power’s facilities in Shenyang, China.
The $1.5 billion project will supply electricity for 180,000 homes while creating hundreds of American wind jobs. Chinese banks are expected to finance the plant.
SPG is a local power industry alliance based in Shenyang, China, formed early this year under A-Power’s leadership. Member companies range from power equipment makers to engineering service providers. The alliance was created to integrate local resources and leverage the manufacturing, engineering and government initiatives in the Shenyang area so that SPG can pursue large-scale, international projects in the alternative energy sector.
"The 600MW wind farm project, if completed according to plan, would demonstrate for the first time Chinese capital and manufacturing and engineering expertise exported to the United States – the world’s largest wind power country – and how the two countries can share both the risks and the benefits in a huge wind power project," said Vice Mayor Yang Yazhou, who oversees all environmental protection and economic growth and development of the city of Shenyang.
"China and the U.S. of course share the common goal of bringing cost-effective and environmentally responsible renewable energy to millions of homes across the world, and the Chinese government is proud to be a positive force that spurs ground-breaking, broad-range and in-depth cooperations between the U.S. and China and any ensuing mutual benefits for our two great economies."
"It is important to give credit where credit is due," said Joe Stark, Vice President of Finance and Business Development with Cielo. "Without the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, this joint venture with SPG would not be possible. Thanks to the strong policy push and a recovering financing environment, wind projects in the U.S. are attracting developers and investors alike once again."
The United States Renewable Energy Group (US-REG) mobilizes and facilitates the participation of international financing and investment in renewable energy projects in the US.
Cielo Wind Power is a privately held company based in Austin, Texas, that develops, owns, and operates wind plants in the southwest.
A-Power Energy Generation Systems Ltd., through its China-based subsidiaries, says it’s the largest distributed energy systems provider in China, focusing on green projects between 25MW-400MW.
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