China's Windey and Marubeni join hands days after record-low Saudi wind power deal
Wind turbine OEM and Japanese conglomerate sign MoU for cooperation in renewables and discuss joint development and localisation strategy
Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Windey signed an agreement to “cooperate closely in the field of renewable energy in the future” with Japan's Marubeni, just days after the latter won a major deal to build wind power in Saudi Arabia at record low prices.
The cooperation intention was laid down in a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the two companies last week during a visit by Windey chair Gao Ling to Japan, where she met the CEO of Marubeni’s power division, Satoru Harada.
Harada “congratulated both parties for their past cooperation in Saudi Arabia” and “expressed his high expectation for the continuation and deepening of cooperation between the two parties in the future”, Windey said in a release.
No turbine supplier was announced then, but the almost simultaneous cooperation deal between Marubeni and Windey suggested it could be Windey.
Chinese manufacturers increasingly win over market shares in world regions outside Europe and the US from Western OEMs.
In the Middle East, it is hard to enter “because we see full-fledged Chinese competition”, Bruch said. Siemens Gamesa came in sixth in WoodMac's ranking of global wind OEMs last year, with 9.7GW sold.
Windey in its release didn’t go into details of specific projects or orders, but said it was “exploring new ways of cooperation with Marubeni Corp. and making it to a higher level, a broader field, and a wider range.”
Teams from both companies “conducted practical exchanges on green hydrogen, energy storage system and offshore wind power, and the team leaders carried out a series of discussions on technology, project development, joint development and localisation strategy, which laid a solid foundation for future cooperation,” the company added.
(Copyright)