Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co., China’s second-largest wind-turbine maker, is seeking to become a bigger supplier in the U.S. by purchasing two 10-megawatt wind farms in Montana to showcase its equipment.
The two farms jointly comprise the Musselshell Project in Shawmut, Montana, and were acquired from the U.S. unit of Germany’s Volkswind GmbH, the Xinjiang-based company said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.
Goldwind’s turbines are already operating in Minnesota and Iowa, and with the Musselshell project they’re due to be installed at sites in six more states, the company said. The deal shows growing momentum for the Chinese supplier in the U.S., said Amy Grace, a wind analyst for Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
“Goldwind has financed a large-scale project to prove its turbine viability, and the other Chinese manufacturers haven’t done that,” Grace said in an interview. “There’s no question that Goldwind will have more U.S. sales.”
Goldwind, whose sales jumped 71 percent in 2010, is seeking to expand from China into other markets where it will compete against rivals that include General Electric Co. (GE), Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS), and Siemens AG (SIE), the biggest suppliers in the U.S., Grace said.
“They’re truly an international company, with research and development in Germany and China and a largely American team in the US,” she said.
The Musselshell project is expected to go into operation as early as the third quarter, the company said. The price wasn’t disclosed. Northwestern Corp. (NWE)’s Northwest Energy will buy the power.
U.S. Components
The plant will use Goldwind’s permanent magnet turbines, which don’t need a gearbox, reducing maintenance and increasing efficiency.
Almost all of the towers for the Chinese company’s U.S. projects come from Naperville, Illinois-based Broadwind Energy Inc. (BWEN), Colin Mahoney, a spokesman for Goldwind’s U.S. unit, said in an e-mail. Most of the blades come from a LM Wind Power Group plant in North Dakota.
The company had turbines with capacity of 9 megawatts “substantially complete” in the U.S. at the end of December and 117 megawatts under construction, he said.