Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology eyes market in Australia

Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology, China's largest wind-turbine maker, is studying new projects to take advantage of Australia's 2020 renewable energy target.

Australia is set to install as much as 8,000 megawatts of wind power by the end of the decade, and Goldwind was "looking to be a serious participant", said John Titchen, the managing director of its Australian unit. "We see a range of project opportunities."

Goldwind is among wind-power firms seeking to expand in Australia, which intends to generate at least 20 per cent of its power from renewable energy by 2020. Australia requires electricity retailers to buy renewable energy certificates from producers of wind and solar power, providing an incentive to developers of the projects.

Goldwind, which entered Australia in 2009, started construction last month on a 165.5 MW wind farm in New South Wales state, the second project in the country to use the company's turbines. The farm is scheduled to start operating in 2014.

Wind developers would increasingly focus on Victoria and New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, Titchen said.

Goldwind said in June it sold a wind farm in Victoria to China Guangdong Nuclear Wind Energy.