Roaring 40s has already contracted with Beijing-based China Datang to build a 49.3MW wind farm in Shuangliao in north-east China’s Jilin Province, which is scheduled to start operating in October.
The company is also looking at wind power projects in New Zealand. It has also teamed up with lines companies Unison and Eastland Northworks to investigate possible wind farm projects on the North Island’s east coast.
Today the company is expected to sign a $US222 million ($A311 million) agreement with Guohua, the power generation subsidiary of China’s biggest coal producer, state-owned Shenhua Group, to build wind power generation facilities in China.
China, which is encouraging renewable energy options to reduce its heavy reliance on oil and coal, plans to build wind power facilities of 5000MW by 2010.
The aim is to increase that to 30,000MW by 2020, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has said.
The deal will be clinched during Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to Australia as part of the partnership pact between the two nations in energy and resources, Roaring 40s managing director Mark Kelleher told the China Daily newspaper.
“Our initial target with Guohua is 150 megawatts,” Kelleher said, speaking on the sidelines of a renewable energy summit in Beijing.
Roaring 40s’ first joint wind power project with Guohua will be located in Rongcheng in east China’s Shandong Province, with a capacity of 50MW, according to Kelleher. It is expected to start generating electricity next year. The remaining 100MW will be built in two other places, with one possibly being Hulunbeier in the northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
By 2010, Roaring 40s aims to have installed 500-1000MW in China and to be the country’s leading foreign wind power developer.
“We are committed to the Chinese market in the long term, which is expected to account for half of our global portfolio,” Kelleher told China Daily.
China’s new renewable energy regulations, designed to push the use of clean power, have attracted a rising number of both domestic and foreign investors who are eager to cash in on the market, the newspaper said.
