The news comes less than a week after Dublin-based MRP unveiled plans to build 1GW of onshore wind projects in Ireland using turbines supplied by China's Sinovel - a deal of major significance for the European wind industry.
MRP chief executive Eddie O’Connor says he plans to float the company in about three years – “more likely than not on the Hong Kong market.
“If the story is fundamentally a Chinese story, the Hong Kong market will understand you a little more clearly,” O’Connor tells Bloomberg.
MRP intends to sign a deal with China’s Suntech to kit-out its 50MW PV project at Droogfontein, near Pretoria in South Africa. Any future South African projects would also use Suntech modules.
After recently acknowledging that part of the €1.5bn ($2.2bn) Irish wind pipeline will be financed by the China Development Bank, O’Connor says access to cheap credit is “one reason why we work with Chinese partners.
“Another of them is that the product is cheaper,” he adds.
In January MRP sold its stake in the 106.5MW Shady Oaks wind farm in Illinois to Goldwind, after jointly bidding for the project with the Chinese turbine maker.
