China's SANY Expands US Wind Turbine Presence
SANY has been quietly developing two wind farms totaling 50MW in Oregon and Texas with the help of Chinese investors, and expects they will begin producing electricity this year, a company official tells Recharge.
The project near Hermiston, Oregon, near the border with Washington State, will employ 20 SANY 2MW turbines with power to be sold under a long-term agreement with utility PacifiCorp.
Five SANY 2MW turbines will be installed near Lubbock in the Texas Panhandle with power sold on a merchant basis within the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), which operates the grid in all or parts of nine states.
The Chinese turbine vendor recently also commissioned a single 2MW turbine at a Philips light bulb plant in Falls River, Massachusetts. The unit will offset about 70% of the factory’s energy use.
Meanwhile, five 2MW SANY turbines installed last year in Ralls near Lubbock are exceeding performance expectations thus far, the official says on the sidelines of the American Wind Energy Association Windpower 2012 show here.
The company initially targeted availability at 96% but the units are at 98% to 99%. Power is sold to SPP on a merchant basis. SANY intends to use the excellent operating performance as a key selling point in the US, where there is reticence to buy Chinese turbines due to quality concerns and unfamiliarity with some vendors.
Wind turbines is a new business for SANY, which is the world’s sixth largest construction machinery manufacturer.