A-Power scores 50 MW wind contract for Inner Mongolia

Liaoning, China-based A-Power Energy Generation Systems (Nasdaq:APWR) said today it signed a $90.5 million deal to develop a 49.5-gigawatt wind farm for Urat Rear Banner-based Jihe Orient Wind Energy.

Shares of the company were up nearly 13 percent to close at $11.22 today.

The wind project is to be located in the township of Saiwusu, in Guba County of Inner Mongolia. The deal includes $84.2 million for A-Power to supply the wind turbines, towers and foundations. Construction is slated to begin in early October, with an expected completion date of June 2010.

Inner Mongolia is estimated to have 787 gigawatts of potential wind power, with just 1.6 GW developed and installed in September 2008, according to the Chinese Renewable Energy Industry Association.

"Inner Mongolia as we all know has the most promising wind energy potential among all of China's provinces," said Jinxiang Lu, CEO of A-Power, in a news release. "A-Power is very proud to set its foot in a region with such vast resources."

Inner Mongolia Power has issued a permit to Jihe Orient to supply electricity to the grid, with the feed-in tariff approved by China's National Development and Reform Commission. The Saiwusu Wind Farm project has also received approval from the National Resources Bureau of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

A-Power provides distributed power generation systems in China, sized 25 MW to 400 MW. Last year, A-Power entered the wind market, breaking ground on China's largest wind turbine manufacturing facility. The 1.125-GW capacity plant in Liaoning Province uses technologies licensed from Germany's Fuhrlander and Denmark-based Norwin (see A-Power completes first phase of wind turbine facility).

In January, A-Power announced plans for a joint venture with GE Drivetrain Technologies, a subsidiary of General Electric's GE Transportation unit, on a wind turbine gearbox assembly plant (see A-Power opens 1GW wind turbine plant in China).

Earlier this summer, A-Power signed a contract with Sanmenxia New Energy Bio-Electricity to design and build a biomass plant in the Henan province of China (see A-Power lands $44M for energy alliance as stock plummets).

And in August, A-Power made its first entry to the solar market, announcing plans to acquire Kyoto, Japan-based Evatech in an all-cash transaction valued at $50 million (see A-Power enters the solar market with $50M acquisition).