Global power player AES has announced plans to expand its wind generation business into China through the creation of a joint venture with Chinese renewables firm Guohua Energy Investment Company. The joint venture will construct, own and operate a 49.5MW wind farm, which is currently under design and expected to achieve commercial operation in 2009.
Through its investment in the joint venture, which will be known as Guohua AES (Huanghua) Wind Power Company Limited, AES will become the first US-based power company with wind generation facilities in China. In 1994, AES became the first US-based power company to enter the region.
The wind farm site is located in the Huanghua area of Hebei Province, approximately 200km southeast of Beijing, and has the potential to generate up to 225MW. The Hebei Provincial Power Company will purchase all of the power generated by the facility, as required by Chinese renewable energy law.
AES subsidiary AES Black Sea Holdings will own a 49% interest in the joint venture. The remainder will be owned by Guohua. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Through our joint venture with Guohua, AES is able to enter the promising wind market in China with a well-established and respected partner, and to create a platform for further wind activities in the future, said Ned Hall, president of AES Renewable Generation. This is consistent with AES’s broader goals to expand our wind generation business globally in markets in which AES already has established successful operations.
We see tremendous growth opportunities for wind generation in China, which has committed to adding 30,000MW of new wind power by 2020, said Tom Kunde, vice president of AES North Asia. We look forward to being a key part of China’s growing wind generation sector.