Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co., China’s largest wind turbine manufacturer, has started selling equipment directly to large power users in a bid to capitalize on burgeoning U.S. customer demand to generate their own electricity.
Goldwind has seen interest in wind turbines installed at factories and farms rise fivefold in the past year, David Halligan, chief executive officer of the company’s U.S. unit, said in a phone interview Thursday. Goldwind installed 10 such projects totaling 26.5 megawatts in the past three years, before which it had none.
“These are all large businesses that have high energy needs,” he said. It’s a surprising new source of revenue for the Urumqi, China-based company, which has installed turbines capable of generating 166.5 megawatts at bigger U.S. wind farms since entering the market in 2009.
Demand for large-scale wind projects slowed last year as a tax credit that spurred wind project development expired. Selling the equipment directly to those who are consuming the power, known as distributed generation, is “the wave of the future,” Halligan said.
Turbine additions in the U.S. wind market slowed to about 1 gigawatt last year from more than 13 gigawatts in 2012. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said today that the legislative body will vote this year on extending expired clean energy credits.
Goldwind reported profit that more than tripled in the first half. Its stock has increased 46 percent this year.
— Bloomberg News