Spain's Gamesa, one of the world's top wind turbine groups, on Oct. 14 announced three new contracts with Chinese firms as part of a surge in investments in the country to meet its rising demand for clean energy.
Gamesa's wind turbine division signed the deals with two of its biggest customers in China, Guangdong Nuclear Wind Power and Datang Renewable Power, and a new customer, Henan Weite Wind Power.
The group will supply a total of 197 turbines with combined capacity of 251 megawatts.
China's goal is to have renewable energy like wind account for 15% of its energy needs by 2020, double its share in 2005.
Gamesa said it expected its sales to double in China during the period 2009-2013, with the country accounting for 30% of its total sales by 2013.
"China in 2009 cemented its position as the fastest-growing wind energy market in the world, nearly doubling its wind energy generation capacity with the rollout of 13.7 gigawatts of wind assets," the company said. "China offers significant prospects for future growth, due to the size of its market, Chinese authorities' awareness of environmental and pollution problems and the launch of a renewable energy plan."
Gamesa stock rocketed almost 10% in mid-September, its biggest one-day gain in over a year, after it announced contracts to supply two of China's largest power companies, Guangdong Nuclear Wind and Datang Renewable Power, with 1.3 gigawatts of turbines through 2013.
Gamesa has 30 manufacturing facilities in Europe, the United States, China and India and an international workforce of more than 6,300 people.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010
