MAINSTREAM RENEWABLE Power plans to join forces with Chinese multi-national Goldwind to develop a wind farm in Chile with a value of around €140 million.
Dublin-based Mainstream and Goldwind yesterday signed a 50/50 joint-venture agreement to build the first phase of the Ckani wind farm in the Antofagasta region of northern Chile.
The pair signed the deal at the Ireland-China Trade and Investment Forum in Dublin, which was attended by Xi Jinping, vicepresident of the People’s Republic of China.
Chicago-based Goldwind USA, a subsidiary of Chinese group Goldwind, will supply 47 wind turbines for the first phase of Ckani. Work on the development is set to get under way late this year.
The first phase will have a capacity to generate 70MW of electricity. As a general rule, wind farms cost €2 million per MW to build, implying a cost of €140 million for the initial phase.
Mainstream has been working on plans for Ckani since 2009. It will have a capacity of 240MW when it is completed by 2015.
Ckani will be the third collaboration between Mainstream and Goldwind. Last December, the Chinese company agreed to supply 23 turbines for Mainstream’s 34.5MW Negrete Cuel wind farm in central Chile. Around the same time, Goldwind secured a supply deal from the Irish company for a 16.5MW farm in Ecuador.
Mainstream’s chief executive Eddie O’Connor said yesterday that developing partnerships with Chinese suppliers was a key part of the company’s strategy.
