Goldwind hailed a landmark for its growing South American operations as its first wholly-owned project in the region entered service in Argentina.

The Chinese wind giant said the Loma Blanca 2 project is now up and running as part of the total 250MW four-part Loma Blanca complex in Argentina’s Chubut province.

Goldwind began work on Loma Blanca and the 98MW Miramar project, near Buenos Aires, in 2018 with compatriot EPC group Power China after acquiring the wind farms under China’s ‘Belt and Road’ global infrastructure strategy.

"The project marks a firm expansion of Goldwind's global business territory," said the company.

The Chinese OEM is using its GW3S turbines at the projects and claims it will hit annual capacity factors as high as 60% once full operations are achieved.

Goldwind already has significant capacity up and running at third-party wind farms in Latin America, including projects in Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia and Cuba. It has also signaled its ambitions in the biggest regional market, Brazil, with a big service and replacement deal there.