China's Goldwind in debut turbine deal for first international factory
Wind equipment giant strikes Brazil agreement with unit of compatriot SPIC
Chinese manufacturer Goldwind has signed a debut deal for wind turbines assembled at its plant in Brazil – the OEM’s first factory outside China.
Goldwind will supply 6.2MW turbines to a 105MW project being developed by SPIC Brasil, a unit of its Chinese compatriot power giant SPIC.
The deal for locally assembled turbines also marks a ramping up for Goldwind’s newly opened plant in Camaçari, a city near the coast in Brazil’s northeastern state of Bahia.
The plant – its first outside China – will assemble nacelles to be married with locally made blades and towers, complying with Brazil’s stringent local content rules.
Goldwind snapped up the factory from former incumbent GE Vernova – reflecting the trend by most western OEMs to either exit or pause production in Brazil amid a sharp market downturn due to pressure from hydropower resources and a lack of grid capacity.
Goldwind will produce turbines with power ratings between 5.3-7.5MW at the factory, with ambitions to push 150 machines a year out of the door there.