Chinese turbine maker Ming Yang has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government of Brazil’s Ceará state to develop offshore wind power in the region, according to an announcement by the OEM.
The statement of intent marks Ming Yang’s maiden foray into the Brazilian market, and is also the first step by Chinese renewable companies in the south American country’s fledgling offshore wind market, Recharge understands, although no details have been disclosed.
“Offshore is not simply the generation of renewable energy. It is the major driver of economic development for each country and region where this system is installed,” Ming Yang vice president Larry Wang said on LinkedIn.
The Chinese company added it is looking forward to the day when its offshore wind technology will be powering the region's electricity needs.
Ceará, with a 573km coastline, is seen as having Brazil's highest offshore wind potential, Ming Yang said, referring to a report carried out by the state's federation of industries last year, which points to a massive offshore wind potential in the state alone of some 117GW.
Blessed with constant strong winds, Ceará was one of the earliest Brazilian states to adopt wind energy on land, and today has one of the highest wind power shares in the country.
Brazil so far has no wind turbine installed in its waters, but it was tipped by the World Bank last year as a market of great offshore wind potential, thanks to its almost 8,000km coastline and a very shallow continental shelf of under 20 metres in many places.
A government report this January, published by the country’s energy planning agency EPE, estimated the country's theoretical offshore wind potential could be up to 700GW. So far, some 4GW projects are at an early development stage.
Profit surge helps overseas move
While Ming Yang is mostly known as China's third-largest wind turbine maker, the firm also owns development rights to at least 1.8GW in offshore wind projects in the Chinese province of Guangdong, where the company is based.
The MoU signing came just days after Ming Yang said it sees its net profit during the third quarter of 2020 surge by 56-75% year on year to some 800-900m yuan ($118-$132m).
The expected strong performance is the bounty China’s big turbine makers are reaping after speeding to complete a massive amount of wind projects ahead of subsidy cut-off deadlines by the end of 2020 for onshore wind projects, and by the end of 2021 for offshore wind projects.
Bringing new projects online had already improved Ming Yang’s cash position in the first half of this year, which analysts at China Merchants Securities Co and other brokerages believe supports its ambitious plans for offshore turbine R&D and an overseas market expansion.
Recharge recently reported that the OEM plans to install a prototype of its 11MW offshore wind turbine in China next year, as it shapes a strategy to win business in Europea and other international markets.
Ming Yang so far, however, remains a smaller player in the global wind market, with only 122MW turbines sales recorded outside of China by the end of 2018, statistics of China’s wind energy administration show.
