China to fund wind farm project in Texas

China's ambition of building a global renewable energy industry can be seen from a new wind farm it will establish in West Texas.

The 600-megawatt wind farm, scheduled to start construction in March 2010, is a joint venture among Shenyang Power Group of China, U.S. Renewable Energy Group, and Austin, Texas-based Cielo Wind Power LP. The $1.5 billion USD project will be largely funded by Chinese financiers, reports Associate Press. The farm has been reported to create 300 temporary jobs and about 30 permanent jobs. It will use turbines manufactured in China. A-Power Energy Generation Systems, the Chinese turbine manufacturer, said it will begin shipping the 2.5-megawatt turbines in next March, the first time China has exported turbines to the U.S.. So far, Denmark owns the most wind farms in the U.S., at 28 percent, followed by Spain, Japan, German and India, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission. A-Power uses technology developed by Germany-based Fuhrlander AG and Erie, Pa.-based GE Drivetrain Technologies. China has been accelerating construction of wind farms throughout the country. It passed the U.S. this year to become the world's largest market for wind energy. However, foreign companies have been complaining about how hard it is to compete with Chinese domestic manufacturers because of local protectionism policies. For example, European turbine makers have stopped bidding for Chinese contracts because their bids would not be considered, Jörg Wuttke, the president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, told the New York Times. Chinese-made turbines are less expensive than foreign brands, but they are notoriously unreliable and come with higher repair costs.