More wind power
on the horizon
Mar 31, 2006 - China Daily
Author(s): Wang Ying
Roaring 40s, a joint venture between Australia-based Hydro Tasmania
and Hong Kong-based CLP Power Asia, is expected to sign an agreement
with the State-owned Shenhua Group to build wind power generation
facilities in China.
The deal is worth 1.8 billion yuan (US$222 million).
China, which is encouraging renewable energy options to reduce its
heavy reliance on oil and coal, plans to build wind power facilities of
5,000 MW by 2010.
The aim is to increase that to 30,000 MW by 2020, the National
Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has said.
Roaring is expected to ink an accord on Monday in Australia with
Guohua Electric Power, the power generation subsidiary of China's
biggest coal producer Shenhua.
The deal will be clinched during Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to
Australia starting this weekend, as part of the partnership pact between
the two nations in energy and resources, said Mark Kelleher, managing
director of Roaring.
"Our initial target with Guohua is 150 megawatts (MW) (of wind power
facilities in China)," Kelleher said, speaking on the sidelines of a
renewable energy summit in Beijing.
Of the total investment, one- third 600 million yuan (US$74 million)
will be shared by both companies' equities.
The rest, 1.2 billion yuan (US$148 million) will be in the form of
loans from Chinese banks, he added.
Roaring's first joint wind power project with Guohua will be located
in Rongcheng in East China's Shandong Province, with a capacity of 50
MW, the director said. It is expected to start generating electricity
next year.
The remaining 100 MW will be built in two other places, with one
possibly being Hulunbeier in the northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous
Region, said Kelleher.
"We are looking at a number of places in China, and our target by
2010 in this country is 500-1,000 MW, as the leading foreign wind power
developer," the managing director said. "We are committed to the Chinese
market in the long-term, which is expected to account for half of our
global portfolio."
A Shenhua spokesman yesterday said he was not aware of the possible
deal, only saying the firm is now developing wind farms in Zhangjiakou,
about 200 kilometres northwest of Beijing.
Roaring has already signed an agreement with Beijing-based China
Datang Corp to build a 49.3-MW wind farm in Shuangliao of Northeast
China's Jilin Province, which is scheduled to start operating in
October, Kelleher said.
From the start of this year China enacted its first renewable law as
the major legal framework to push the use of renewable sources, mainly
for power generation.
The new law has attracted an increasing number of both domestic and
foreign investors, eager to cash in on the market.
China Longyuan Electric Power Group Corp owned by China Guodian, a
major player in wind power market, plans to build wind power facilities
of 2,000 MW in capacity by 2010 and 6,000 by 2020, Zhang Yuan,
vice-president of the company said yesterday. It had 430 MW by the end
of last year.
The Chinese Government now uses competitive bidding to decide on
electricity tariffs produced by wind farms, a policy criticized by many
industry insiders who said the market is in its infancy and should be
encouraged by higher fixed tariffs.
Wu Guihui, deputy director of the NDRC's energy bureau, the country's
top energy industry regulator, yesterday said the bidding policy was
more market-based and was working well now, although there had been
problems earlier.
"Any developer, domestic or foreign, big or small, is equal in the
eyes of industry policy," Wu said.
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