China's Sinovel is up and running in US wind-power market

One of four Sinovel 1.5MW turbines sold to customers in Massachusetts has begun commercial operation, with the other three expected on line by April next year, Recharge has learned.

Richard A Kessler, Fort Worth & Dominique Patton, Singapore

The sales provide Sinovel with much-needed exposure in the world’s second-largest wind-energy market, where it lags behind Chinese rivals Goldwind, Sany and Guodian United Power.

The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) says its turbine started generating electricity at a sewer pumping station in the Boston neighbourhood of Charlestown on 18 October.

MWRA communications director Ria Convery says the agency used $4.7m from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to buy the turbine, and an installation contract was awarded to Solaya, which chose Sinovel, partly because the electrical control systems were made by Massachusetts-based AMSC.

MWRA had to obtain a waiver for the “buy American” clause in the economic stimulus law.

AMSC cut its business ties with Sinovel after alleging that the Chinese turbine giant had stolen its intellectual property. Convery acknowledges the rift, but the state did not reconsider the deal.

The MWRA turbine will produce 3GWh of electricity a year, worth about $350,000, and sell it to the local utility, which will deduct that amount from the authority’s electricity bill.

The other three turbines are owned 50% each by Solaya Energy — a division of Lumus Construction — and merchant bank Palmer Capital. Two units will be sited in Fairhaven, southern Massachusetts, and the other in Scituate, in the east of the state.

The Scituate project is the first in the state in which a private company will own and operate a turbine on public land and sell the power to a municipality. In both cases, the towns will pay for electricity under long-term contract at rates as low as 40% below prevailing utility prices. In Scituate, the town expects to cut its annual power bill by $300,000 over a 15-year period.

Convery says the Charlestown project is part of MWRA’s renewable-energy programme, which includes nearly 14MW of wind, biogas, hydro and solar.

Palmer Capital president Gordon Deane tells Recharge the Fairhaven developers are receiving $1.3m in federally subsidised financing, in addition to federal tax credits. He says Palmer chose Sinovel for the municipal projects based on Lumus’ positive experience with the manufacturer.